Training a Huntress
by constantlydreaming
Summary: Diana is special. Maybe special like Sam, but they're not sure. One thing they know is, she has to learn everything. The boys attempt to teach her of their journey and how she can learn to control her gift. But Diana wants in. Can the boys train a new hunter?
1. Chapter 1: Pilot

**Just trying this out... Not sure if I'm going to continue... Let me know what you think...**

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Have you ever felt like you were falling? And I mean, really, really falling fast and hard forever and ever, deeper and deeper into an unknown darkness which scares you so much you feel like your insides have been clawed to shreds?

I have. I do. Often.

And, no, this is not a depression thing, I swear. Or a teen angst thing, 'cause, God, I am 22 and if I was still dealing with that shit, I pray that someone would put me out of my misery.

Anyway, I wake up with this feeling a lot. And sometimes I feel it in the middle of the day. And sometimes I see things. And I don't know what they are. Or, rather, I _didn't_. Until I met the Winchesters.

Those boys really helped me figure out what was happening to me and how to control it, and thank God for the younger one, Sam, 'cause if it wasn't for him, Dean would have killed me after what I'd done to him. And I don't blame him. I've come to do some pretty awful things. And I'm not proud of it. But I'm scared.

So, I'm writing all of this down. Sam says it'll help me sort my thoughts out and decipher what is reality and what is... well... the other stuff. I've never been much of a communicating-my-feelings person. I never even had a diary or anything. But I guess I can try, so here it goes...

I was a good student and had a job. I didn't party super hard, but I didn't chain myself to my work either. I was living with two other girls at the time who had gotten me my job bar tending and waitressing at the pub they worked at. It wasn't bad.

Life was going fine, I guess, except that I kept having these terrible nightmares of really gory scenes and just creepy stuff. I'm not a huge fan of horror flicks or anything, so I didn't really know where these images were coming from and sometimes when I was in class or at work, I'd feel like I started plummeting through the floor to the center of the Earth.

Anyway, I was wiping down the bar one night, cleaning up after some guy who had gotten it into his baked brain to pour his liquor on the bar and try to lap it up like a dog (some people are idiots), when these couple of guys sauntered in and pulled up a couple of stools. I threw the soiled towel into a bin and walked over.

"Hi there," the shorter one said, flashing me a winning smile. He glanced down at my cleavage. "Diana. Pretty name. Classy."

"Are you gonna order something?" I smiled. I'll admit, I was tired and didn't feel like being hit on, but I didn't wanna be too rude. I was still pretty new and sort of on a trial basis.

"What's your specialty?" the flirt grinned again. I sighed and poured him a drink, the first liquor I grabbed, really, then turned to the taller one.

He gave me a shy smile. "I'll just have whatever you've got on tap," he said. I got him his beer and walked off to tend to others.

I hadn't paid much mind to them originally, but they didn't move from those two stools and just kept chatting softly and nursing those two drinks they had. A couple of hours later, my shift was over and I was getting changed to go home. When I went in the back to grab my stuff, they were still there, and when I came out, they were gone.

As I was walking home, I suddenly had that falling feeling, but it was worse than before. I got so lightheaded that I suddenly found myself on my hands and knees, feeling like I was gonna throw up. Pictures kept flashing in my eyes and I could hear screaming in my head. A wave of panic washed over me and the next thing I knew, I was running.

I burst through the door of my apartment, the piercing screams still ringing in my ears and found my two roommates sprawled on the floor of our living room, unmoving. They were coated with blood and I could see the shockingly white tips of their ribcages emerging from the gore of their chests.

I absently heard thudding as I stared into Haley's wide, glassy blue eyes, her fear captured in them forever, the horrible monster that had ripped her heart out being the last thing she ever saw and I just wanted to hold her.

All of a sudden, I was aware of two large hands gripping my shoulders as I was brought back into focus and staring into the tall guy from the bar's hazel-green eyes and the flirt was inspecting my friends' bodies. His brow was furrowed and he kept asking me something, but I couldn't hear what it was. Everything was fading and I felt the intense falling sensation again.

When it was over, I woke up with a splitting migraine. Everything hurt and felt heavy. I slowly opened my eyes and saw my ankles and wrists bound to a chair that was sitting on top of something spray painted in red onto the floor.

I looked up and saw an older guy in a flannel shirt and a baseball cap looking at me really confused. _He_ was confused? Jesus, I couldn't even express the pain and confusion I was feeling.

I looked over at the two men I'd seen at the bar and in my apartment. They looked just as shocked, if not more. The flirt looked at the tall one.

"Jesus, Sammy, I didn't even hear you! Were you whispering or something?"

The tall guy looked over at his friend with wide eyes. "Dean... I didn't exorcise that demon..."

"Well, then who did?" the other guy demanded. The Sammy guy's eyes met mine and he tilted his head, thinking. Something sparked in his eyes.

"That's not possible," he whispered. "Is it...?"

"What's not possible, Sammy?" barked the Dean guy. "You can't just leave us in the dark here! What happened!"

"I think _she_ did it."

"What? No way!" Dean scoffed. "She was possessed! She couldn't! Right, Bobby?"

The older guy threw a bottle of water at me and they all waited. When I blinked it out of my eyes they had all taken a step closer to me, inspecting me like a bug in a jar.

"It would take unimaginable amounts of power," said the older guy. "I can't imagine this girl would have anything even remotely close to being on the same spectrum as that kind of power!"

"A god could..." whispered Sammy.

The other two stared at him. "What?"

"Do you know where the name Diana comes from, Dean?"

Dean looked over at me, splashed the rest of his water on me, for good measure I guess, and shrugged.

"Diana is a goddess from Roman mythology," Sammy said, staring at me and licking his lips nervously. "She is the goddess of the hunt."

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**Before you ask, no she's not actually the goddess, I would hope to explain more later.**

**But for now... What do you think? Should I continue?**


	2. Chapter 2: Black Outs

***Disclaimer***

**I do not, nor do I claim to own any Supernatural characters. I have created Diana, no other character so far.**

**Any resemblance to other people, real or fiction, alive or dead, is merely coincidence.**

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"Where am I?" I croaked, my head still a bit foggy. The really big guy, Sammy I think they called him, approached me slowly while the other two glared down at me like I was about to eat someone or something. He crouched in front of me.

"Hi, Diana," he spoke to me softly, like he would a small, terrified child. I suppose that's how I felt. "I'm Sam. This is my brother Dean and our friend Bobby. You're in Bobby's house in his basement. We took you here because... Because..."

"Because you were possessed by a mega-watt demon," Dean barked. Sam glared up at him.

"Yes, to put it _gently_," he growled. Dean shrugged. Sam looked at me again. "We needed to get rid of the demon because it was trying to use your body to hurt people. But it's gone now. Everything's okay."

"We don't know that," Bobby grumbled.

Sam sighed and looked at me apologetically. My head was spinning. Demons? Possession? This stuff only happened in movies or my nightmares. I couldn't wrap my head around what was happening.

I flinched as Sam touched my wrist. He backed off momentarily, holding up his hands, then touched me again. He began to undo my binds and helped me stand up. My legs felt as though they didn't have bones and I fell against his weight. Slipping his arm around my waist, Sam helped me walk up the stairs, ignoring his brother and friend's guns and glares.

He sat me down at the kitchen table. I suddenly realized that I was trembling and when Sam asked me if I could remember anything, I thought maybe I'd pass out. He held up his first finger, bidding me to wait, then walked away. I glanced up at Dean, standing over me, gun in hand, glaring down his nose at me.

"You don't think it's gone, do you?" I whispered hoarsely. "The demon, I mean."

He hesitated, then shook his head. "I don't know what to think."

I looked down at my lap and nodded. "I wouldn't trust me either."

Sam came back and handed me a glass of water. I gulped it down then set the glass on the table.

"Diana, can you tell us what you remember? If you remember anything?"

I shrugged. "I remember finding my roommates..." The image flashed again and I fought back the falling feeling. I needed to focus on here and now before I blacked out again. "I remember you and your brother coming into my house... Then... Nothing..."

"Nothing?" Bobby asked. "Nothing at all?"

I looked up at him and shook my head. He sighed.

"Diana," Sam spoke again, bringing my eyes up to meet his. "You were possessed by a demon. Do you remember that? Maybe watching things happen and doing things without controlling it? Maybe a really angry, mean voice in your head?" I shook my head again. Sam exhaled. "Okay, what about just before you woke up here. We were going to get rid of the demon... But then it sounded like it was in pain... And then it left your body... Diana," he leaned across the table. "Did you do that? Did you make the demon leave?"

"I don't know... Please don't talk to me like I'm six..."

Sam offered me a half smile and leaned back again. "Sorry. I just want to make sure I soften the blow as much as I can. I know this is really terrifying."

I shrugged. "A little shocking..."

"A little?" Bobby huffed. I looked up at him.

"I've always believed on some level. When the best doctors out there can't successfully diagnose or even identify what's wrong with you, you look for less concrete answers. Just, you know, because crazy possible solutions are better than living without knowing what's going on inside your own head."

The three men exchanged grave looks, then stared back at me again. Dean finally lowered his gun.

"Do you have abilities?" he asked. "Can you make people do what you want or dream about things and then they happen?" I bit my lip.

"Not exactly..."

"What do you mean, 'not exactly'?"

"Well... I... I fall..."

He raised his eyebrows, disbelieving. "You fall? Yeah, well, welcome to Earth. We have gravity."

"Dean," Sam snapped, glaring at him. He looked at me. "What do you mean you fall?"

"Well... Sometimes I get this weird feeling like I'm falling through the center of the Earth and I can't stop. And usually, when I come to my senses again, my nose is bleeding and my head's all foggy and I'm not where I was when I started falling."

"What do you mean? Like blackouts?"

"I guess. But then I have these nightmares-" I sighed. "I know I sound stupid... Look, I'm not what you think I am. I don't have special abilities. I'm just some normal chick who got roped into some supernatural mess. I'm sorry. You shouldn't spend so much of your time trying to figure me out. There's nothing to find." I started to get up, and, as if on cue, my head started to spin. The nausea overwhelmed me and I felt my temperature rise. The floor dropped from below me and I was falling again, but this time, I was surrounded by flames. Surrounded and consumed by them. They were licking at my skin, and then they were all across my body and in my hair and I could hear myself screaming.

I opened my eyes and I was sprawled on the ground. The dirt was warm beneath me and the sky above was grey with thunder clouds, and spinning wildly. I slowly sat up and looked around. Several other people were around me, looking around, dazed and confused. A few seconds later, we all looked up to see an old black car screech to a halt a few yards from us. Dean and Sam burst out of the car and came running, guns loaded and pointed in our direction. Everyone screamed.

Sam and Dean stopped in their tracks. They stared, slack jawed at the group of terrified people, then at me. They exchanged quick words and as Dean began to yell at the others and herd them for testing, Sam ran to me.

"Diana, what happened?" he demanded, pulling me to my feet.

"I-I don't know. I-I fell," I stammered.

"That was the falling?" his eyes widened. I nodded, touching my nose. It was bleeding again. I pulled a tissue from my pocket and held it against my nose, wincing.

"What happened?" I asked, looking over at the bewildered crowd as Dean splashed them with water and pricked them each with a knife.

"They were all possessed, Diana. Every demon that was in town came here and you exorcised them all!" His yelling was splitting my head and making my ears ring. I felt the fire crawling up my legs and I whimpered.

Sam gripped my shoulders. "Diana, look at me!" he demanded. "Has anyone got you hooked on something? Do you have a drug that you take or a special drink you like?" I cringed at his overwhelming volume making my brain rattle and shook my head slowly. The fire was frying the skin of my waist now and I felt hot tears begin to fill my eyes.

"Sam," I whimpered. "I-I feel like I'm on fire..." I heard myself sob and squeezed my eyes shut. I could see the flames climbing the rest of my body and overwhelming me. I screamed and dropped again.

Everything was moving so quickly. Blood splattered everywhere and blood curdling screams hurt my ears. I saw fire fry people alive, blades slice up children. A screeching laugh, like nails on a chalkboard, filled my head and made my skin crawl. I saw Dean, battered and bloody, chained to a wall, watching a little boy scream. I saw Sam bound to a bed, thrashing and kicking, trying to save a pretty blonde who was beyond hope. Bobby cried and repeatedly stabbed and shot a woman. Yellow eyes laughed at them all. Black ones surrounded them. A lovely blonde woman and a scruffy looking man clung to each other while being skinned alive. Their anguish and pain overpowered me as I screamed and tried to fight back the claws that were tearing at my flesh.

Suddenly, my eyes flew open and I was no longer fighting claws, but large hands, clasping my wrists, and a leg pinning my knees. The fire disappeared and the images faded and the yellow eyes turned into hazel-green ones. I stilled and gasped, gazing at the eyes, trying to get a grip on reality.

Sam's whole face came into view and his grip on my wrists relaxed, but didn't disappear. I took a few shaky breaths.

"You're safe," he whispered. "I promise."

I nodded and he slowly released me, sitting beside me on a cot, in, what I now saw was, a metal room. There were markings all over the floor and walls and a heavy door with a small window where two other pairs of eyes were peering at me. I looked back at Sam.

"I hurt someone, didn't I?" I whispered. Sam looked at me like he was trying to decide whether or not he should tell me something.

"D'you want some more water?" he asked.

"You got anything stronger?"

He forced a smile and nodded. "Yeah. Come on up."

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**Review, please?**

**I don't know if I should continue...**


	3. Chapter 3: Choices

**Big thanks to my friend (you know who you are) for encouraging me to continue writing even if no one ends up reading...**

**Here goes...**

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I could describe the whole process of Sam, Dean, and Bobby grilling me and me having zero answers, but that just doesn't seem worth it. The bottom line is, when I black out, apparently I don't just pass out, like I thought, I actually draw major demonic attention to myself and then blow the bastards into the next century.

I mainly spent the rest of the day sitting awkwardly in Bobby's kitchen while the guys argued about what to do with me. I pretended to study the table intensely as I eavesdropped on their conversation. (Yes, eavesdropping is wrong, but you know what? They were discussing my life, so I think I get a pass.)

"The way I see it, we've got one option," Dean growled. "Waste her."

"You don't wanna kill her," Bobby retorted. "She's too potentially valuable. She could really make a lot of jobs easier."

"Whoa, whoa!" came Sam's voice. "You wanna use her as a weapon? She's a person! A person who's whole life has just been turned upside down! She's not a gun to fire, she needs our help."

"Or she's a wacked out psycho bitch who's been sucking demon blood with her wine coolers." I could hear the edge in Dean's voice and immediately knew the blood drinking was something they'd run into before.

Sam sighed. "Dean, she's young. She's got her whole life ahead of her. You tried to pick her up less than 48 hours ago! If we could help her find a way to deal, she might have a chance at continuing on with her life."

Dean groaned. "Sammy, she's a freak!"

"So am I!" Sam yelled.

"But you, we know! You, we can handle! You, we trust! That, in there, is strange and dangerous! She needs to be stopped, Sam!"

"You don't know that she'll hurt people!" Sam barked. "She has saved so many lives already, without even knowing it! Dean, look into her eyes and tell me she's evil!"

"She's a monster!"

"Am I a monster, Dean?"

"No, but that's different! You're two different people! She's a monster!"

"So what if she is? That doesn't mean she'll hurt people!"

"That's the _definition_ of a monster, Sam," Dean grumbled, exasperated. "They always kill. She may not have yet, but she will. Just like Amy."

There was a long pause and I felt the thick tension seep into all of the air in the house, almost making it harder to breathe. Finally, Sam spoke again.

"That's not fair, Dean... Amy was... Look, we... We don't know what Diana is..."

"We know that she's powerful and that she's a demon magnet. That's good enough reason for me to plant a bullet in her brain."

"I won't let you kill her, Dean. She doesn't deserve it."

"Well then what the hell are we supposed to do with her?" Dean demanded. "We can't let her roam free, going on a rampage every time she gets a headache or stands up too fast."

"Train me." My voice rang out, high and clear above the thick tension, low voices, and insane levels of testosterone. They turned to see me standing in the doorway. Dean's mouth set into a hard line, his jaw tensing, and Sam suddenly looked apologetic and guilty. Bobby rolled his eyes and muttered an insult at them, annoyed.

"What?" Sam finally asked. "Diana, you don't know what you're asking. Just go back in the kitchen. We'll take you home soon."

"No," I replied, folding my arms and shifting my weight so that I was leaning on the doorway. "Train me."

"Listen, kid," Dean spat. "You're getting off easy if we take you home. Just count your blessings and go quietly."

I raised an eyebrow at them. "You want me to go home? Where a flesh eating creature ripped my roommates to shreds? Where I'll have no one to watch me if I black out again and make sure I don't hurt anyone? Where I could be a potential threat to an unsuspecting town of decent people who don't deserve the agony I might put them through? Where there'll be no one to chain me up if I go mad dog on the place? I mean, I am a monster, right, Dean?"

Dean's jaw tightened further and Sam's eyes slid to him slowly, in some thing like what I think is an I-told-you-so look.

"When you say, 'train you,' what is it you mean, exactly?" came Dean's gravelly voice as he turned his dark gaze from me, to Sam, then back again.

"Teach me how to be like you. You know, to fight demons and help people."

"Look, Diana," Sam sighed. "I get what you're trying to do. It's nice that you want to help, but you really don't know what you're getting yourself into. You just need to go home, finish school, and get back to some sort of normal life, okay? It's really what you'll want in the long run."

"Look, Sam," I replied, with edge in my voice, tired of him treating me like a child. "I get what _you're_ trying to do. It's nice that you want me to have a simpler, happier life than you think I would if I did this, but, again, I'm not six. _I_ know what I want and _I_ can decide things for myself, thank you very much. As an adult, I make my own choices and, right now, I'm choosing to become a hunter."

"This is ridiculous," Dean rolled his eyes, turning away.

"Why? I'd be more back up for you and you could keep an eye on me and not have to worry that I'm going to hurt anyone. I can handle it. I won't be a burden, and if I am, just dump my ass and I'll figure myself out. Look, all I'm asking for is a chance to finally understand what is going on inside my head and to find a way to at least control it, if not use it to help."

"She's got a point," Bobby sighed. After a moment of consideration, Dean spoke again.

"We get on the road and we disappear," he said, stepping closer to me, arms folded, his face stony. "No family contacts."

"Haven't any."

"No friends."

"Died yesterday."

"Hard physical labor."

"Whip me into shape."

"Long hours of research."

"I practically lived in a library."

"Crappy motels."

"Fine."

"Crappy food."

"I can cook."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "But can you make pie?"

I cocked my head to the side, somewhat confused, a bit curious, but mostly amused. "Name it and it's in the oven."

Dean offered a very small half smile and I felt his icy defenses melt just a tad. He extended his arm and we clasped hands.

"Welcome to hell."

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	4. Chapter 4: And So It Begins

**Special Thanks to Emilyrose for consistently reviewing,**

**it always brightens my day :)**

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I grunted when I hit the ground, the impact having knocked the wind out of me. I struggled to lift my head again and try to scramble to my feet, but as soon as I had propped myself up on my elbows, Dean's gun was pointed at my forehead, his finger on the trigger. In another split second, Sam had a knife at my throat and I froze under the blade.

"I hate to break it to you," he hissed in my ear. "No one fights fair."

After a couple more seconds, the boys slowly lowered their weapons and I was allowed to stand. Sam tossed his knife down on the table and handed me a bottle of water. Dean set his gun down as well, then folded his arms.

"Demons don't abide by any kind of honor policy," he said gruffly, staring me down. "They'll use any weapon they can get their hands on. And your mission is not to wound, but to kill. Always kill first, ask questions later. That means you use knives, machetes, guns, stakes, pipes, anything. Got it?" I nodded. "I'm gonna go get food. Work on your swing." I nodded again and he marched out of the junk yard.

I set the bottle of water down and grabbed the scarecrow Dean had fashioned together to be a dummy for me to beat on. It had been about a week since I asked them to train me and, luckily, demon activity was low, so I had a lot of time to learn to fight and study the Winchesters' father's journal and Bobby's various books.

I started on the scarecrow by throwing punches at it, then grabbed a machete and worked on swinging it to hit my targets. No matter how hard I swung, I could never hit where I wanted to and I began to get really frustrated. Finally, my frustration overcame me and I began hacking the dummy to pieces.

"Hey, easy," Sam laughed, clasping my shoulders in his large hands. "This is a dangerous weapon. You need to be careful with it."

"I've been aiming for the neck! Just the neck! Why is it so hard to behead an inanimate scarecrow?" I growled, exasperated.

Sam smiled at me. "You're thinking about it too much. You need to relax. Here, let me show you."

He slid his hands down my arms until they wrapped around my fists, locked around the handle of the machete.

"First, you need to relax your grip. You're trying to swing the blade, not choke it. Your stance is good, now lock your eyes onto your target. Don't let anything get in the way of that, no distractions. Just the blade, and the target. Now, envision the blade making direct contact with your target. See it in your mind."

His low voice filled my head and molded my thoughts, altering my focus so that I couldn't see anything but the neck of the scarecrow, couldn't hear anything but his low, patient instructions, and couldn't feel anything but the handle of the blade in my hands.

"Swing."

_Swish. Crack. Thud._

The next thing I knew, the scarecrow's head was on the ground. I gasped.

"How did you do that?" I asked, looking back at Sam.

"_You_ did it," he replied, offering me a small smile, and for some reason, I felt myself start to blush.

"Listen, Diana," he said, pulling away from me. "I wanna apologize for Dean's behavior. He's a good guy, he's just very cautious, you know?"

"You don't have to explain your brother's actions, Sam," I sighed. "I know why he treats me the way he does. I heard you guys talking the night that I asked to be trained. I know what he thinks of me."

I turned my back to him, setting the blade down and rubbing my wrists, sore from being jarred by decapitating the scarecrow and throwing punches at the guys all day. I heard him exhale behind me.

"Diana, I am so sorry."

I shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I get it. I'm a freak. I could hurt people. Probably kill them. And without even knowing. He's right." I paused, the realization finally sinking in. "I'm a monster."

"No, don't say that." Sam strode to my side, grabbing my shoulders and turning me to face him. "Do _not_ say that. _Ever_. Do you hear me? You are _not_ a monster. You are a good person who has suffered a lot. And you've just given up your life to help people. Diana, you are anything but a monster."

"Sam, I'm insane! I black out and don't remember what I've done, which is apparently a lot of damage!"

"Yes, but to the bad guys!" Sam sighed, dropping his head, then looked up at me again. "I understand what it's like to feel like a freak. I'm a freak too. I… I've been to hell and back… Literally. And I've had… special abilities too… I used to be able to exorcise demons just by willing it… Kind of like you do, except I was conscious."

I stared, slack jawed at him. "You… You know what I'm going through… You know what this is… And you didn't even tell me…?"

He held up his hands, as though to stop me. "No! No, no, no! Not at all! What I mean is, I had a similar thing happen to me, but it was not exactly the same. I mean, my abilities came from… ingesting demon blood…"

I felt my eyes widen and my jaw drop. "You… Drank demon blood…?"

Sam looked down and nodded. "It's not something I'm proud of… But yes… It happened… And, as a result, I acquired exceptional strength, physically, mentally, and supernaturally. It was addicting… But it was warping my judgement… So I had to stop… And the powers faded."

"I… I'm sorry… I had no idea…" I whispered, shocked. Tentatively, I reached for his hand, taking it in mine and squeezing it. "Thank you, Sam… For sharing that with me and for reminding me that my situation doesn't define me, my choices do." He forced a half smile and nodded. "And for the record? You're not a monster either."

"I'm definitely a freak, though," he smiled. I returned it genuinely and shrugged.

"We both are."

Another moment passed, and then Dean came back, hollering to us that there was food in the house. The second his voice rang through the air, Sam dropped my hand and we started towards the house at a faster pace than normal, staring at the ground.

After some Chinese take out and a couple of beers, Dean was grilling me on the differences between windigos and werewolves when Bobby's phone rang. He spoke in a clipped tone, using as few words as possible, then hung up and turned to us.

"Got a tip off about some disappearing kids down in Massachusetts somewhere. You boys up for the trip?"

The guys shrugged and then Dean shot me a discreet look. After a moment, he turned to me visibly.

"All right. Let's see how you do on the field."

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	5. Chapter 5: Rookie's First Case

**This one's a long one...**

**Hope you like it...**

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_As hot tears blurred his eyes, Sam slowly lifted his gun to the first woman he had felt something for since Jessica. He pulled the trigger._

I gasped aloud, slapping my hand over my mouth, then glanced up with wide eyes at the boys in the front seat, afraid they'd heard my absurd reaction to one of the books Bobby had given me before we'd left. He said it was a series called _Supernatural_, written by a prophet about Sam and Dean's lives and that I could benefit a lot more from the books than from asking the guys questions about this stuff.

The guys didn't seem to notice, my gasp drowned out by the heavy rain beating down on the roof of the car. We'd been driving since dawn and, in the late afternoon, had been hit by a severe thunderstorm just as we had entered the New Englad area.

Putting the book down and pulling out my ear phones, I caught the end of the guys' conversation about money issues.

"Do you guys need more cash?" I asked, scooting forward in the back seat to be heard better.

"Don't worry about it," Dean snapped. He'd been grumpy because he'd just washed his car before we left, and now it was getting all muddy again. He really loves that thing. I'm pretty sure I've heard him call it "baby" once or twice.

"Dean, she's just trying to help. She's kinda part of the team now," Sam reasoned. I smiled. I was grateful for Sam. He was making everything just a tad bit easier with his big brown eyes and sweet smile.

Dean shot him a glare that told him never to say that again. I sighed. Dean was hard work, but I could learn to get along with anybody.

Digging in my backpack, I pulled out a carved wooden box and smiled sadly as memories washed over me. I banished them again before the tears could come. Reaching forward, I dropped the box in Sam's lap. Opening the lid, his eyes grew wide.

"What's all this?" he asked.

"Jewelry. Pawn it. You should be able to get some good cash for some of that."

His eyes grew even wider. "Are you kidding?" I shook my head. "Diana, this is some pretty nice stuff. I mean, clearly it's meaningful or was really hard to get." I nodded. "We can't just take this."

"I'm giving it to you, Sam. We all need shelter and to eat, right? This car needs gas, right? Therefore, we need cash. That will get us some, at least for a little while. Take it, pawn it, or I will."

Sam pursed his lips and sighed, reluctant, but finally nodded.

"Where'd you get that?" Dean asked.

"It was mine. Some were from family, some from friends, a couple of the less impressive ones I made." I shrugged.

"When did you have time to grab that?"

"Sam took me home to get some stuff the day after you agreed to train me. I figured it might come in handy."

Dean shot Sam another glare. Sam protested that I needed clothes, but Dean merely fixed his scowl heavily on the road. Sam's face hardened as well.

"Dean, she's a girl. Girls need some things that we can't get and know nothing about."

Dean didn't say anything and Sam rolled his eyes, frustrated. Glancing back at me, his face softened again and a small smile stretched his lips. I returned it and then leaned back again, grabbing up the book once more to finish it off before we got to a motel.

Once in town, Dean pulled into the nearest motel and dropped Sam and I off before ordering us to get a room situated while he went to get food, then he drove away, leaving us in an empty parking lot in the pouring rain. Sam and I looked at each other, him apologetically, me with an understanding smile. I understood. My roommates used to be moody sometimes. At least once a month.

By the time Dean got back, Sam and I had changed and started pinning togther past cases, omens, and compiling a list of suspects and witnesses to interview.

"The victims are all around this Lexington area," Sam said, studying a marked up map, pen in his mouth. He turned to look at me, fists on his hips, his brow furrowed. "But what do they have in common? All different ages, ethnicities, occupations, backgrounds… What does it all come down to?"

"I could take a look at it," Dean offered, setting down a couple of large paper bags.

"No need," I replied, looking up from the computer. "I've got it. They all have the same blood type. Medical records check out, everyone of them is AB positive."

"Wow, really? All of them?" Sam came over behind me to peer over my shoulder at my laptop.

"Yeah, and get this, every one of them has recently had blood transfusions." I looked up at him. "I'm guessing whoever the donor was, wasn't an exact match."

"What about the missing kids Bobby told us about?" Dean asked. "What connection does this have with them?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I do know that all of the victims with the spoiled blood were in the same intensive care unit and likely had the same doctors," I responded, typing furiously as I tried to figure out how to track down each of the kids' records to look for any parallels.

"Inside job?"

"Maybe, but I wouldn't jump right to it. You said never to jump to conclusions before you have all the clues, right? You have to gather what evidence and follow what leads you can get, assess, evaluate, then draw conclusions, right? Well, let's go follow a lead."

Dressed in a navy blue pencil skirt and blazer, flanked by the Winchesters in suits, I sailed through security, received direct answers from doctors and secretaries, and rarely had to wait for anything while playing the part of an FBI agent who was investigating the massive Amber report placed by multiple families in the area. I had a badge and everything.

We had spent the entire next day interviewing doctors, police officers, and witnesses. We had finally gotten a chance to talk to a little girl who claimed to have seen her older sister be taken. But, when we knocked on her door, her father, one of the doctors from the hospital we had just come from who had rushed out the door at the end of the afternoon, was very reluctant to let us in.

"Dr. Tannor, we completely understand your reluctance to allow any strangers near your children," Sam sympathised, "but we are FBI agents and are of no threat to you or your family. We merely want to ask your daughter some questions so that we might be able to track down your eldest and the monster who took her and all of the other children. Please, sir, we just want to help."

Finally, the father agreed and let us inside. While Sam and Dean were talking Dr. and Mrs. Tannor through the procedure of finding kidnappers, which they demanded to know, I slowly began to pull information out of their daughter using her crayons, a technique I had picked up from one of my childhood doctors.

"What does your sister look like?" I asked her while drawing some hearts and flowers on my own piece of paper. She pointed to a blonde stick figure in a pink T shirt and jeans. I smiled at her.

"Very cool! She's pretty, huh? She looks like you!" She nodded. "Hey, can you spell your name?" She wrote out Fiona with a purple crayon. "Fiona. Very good! I like that name, it's very pretty. It's like the princess from Shrek!" She cracked a smile, but it quickly faded. She looked up at me with big blue eyes.

"Where my sister? Where Jill?"

"She was taken, wasn't she?" I asked gently. She nodded. "Did you see who took her, Fiona? If you know who took her, I can try to get her back for you a lot faster."

"You get Jill back for me?"

I nodded. Her big eyes were breaking my heart. She bit her lip, then got to her feet and toddled over to a little bookshelf. She pulled a piece of paper out of one of the books and brought it back to me. I unfolded it. On the piece of paper was a crayon drawing of a very large dog. My breath caught in my throat, but I forced a smile for Fiona.

"Can I keep this?" I asked her in a small voice. She nodded. "Thank you, Fiona." I squeezed her hand gently, then rose to meet her parents and the Winchesters. I nodded. "I think that's everything. Thank you so much, Dr. and Mrs. Tannor, we'll be in touch."

Once back at the motel, I showed Fiona's drawing to the boys. They groaned.

"Is it a werewolf?" I asked. They sighed and nodded. "Oh."

"What? Were you expecting an easy time on your first case?" Dean snapped. I ignored him, just sat down at the little table to further study the drawing.

"So if the kids were taken by a werewolf, does that eliminate any connection to the AB positives?" I asked.

"Not necessarily, but it makes things a hell of a lot foggier," Sam sighed.

"So, what are we looking at? A picky eater?" Dean volunteered.

"No, because wouldn't they have needed to have heart transplants, rather than blood transfusions? Wouldn't a lack of blood have to do with vampires?" I asked.

"Unless the kid's drawing is inaccurate," Sam sighed.

"Well, we don't have anything else to go on," I said.

"Doesn't mean we should go charging in after it. We don't even know for sure what it is."

"I know, I know," I sighed, opening my laptop to look through the pictures of the victims and kids again.

"I'll call Bobby, see if he's gotten any more tips or any ideas of what we're up against," Sam said, pulling out his phone and stepping out of the room, closing the door behind him.

As soon as he was out of the room, Dean closed my laptop and moved it aside. He sat across the table from me and laced his fingers together, placing them on the tabletop and staring across at me.

"Let's get something straight, here," he growled. "You are here so that Sam's concience is clear and so that I can keep an eye on you and make sure you don't hurt anyone. If you jump blindly into any fights and my brother sticks his neck out to save you and gets hurt in the process, I will personally kill you, slowly and painfully, got it?"

"Dean, I'm sorry you feel so threatened by me, but I don't have any bad intentions towards you or anyone else, especially not Sam. He's been nothing but kind to me and I really appreciate the chance you both have given me. I want to help people, not hurt them, I swear." I looked down at my lap. "I understand why you don't trust me, I do. And I'm glad that you care so much for your brother." I met his gaze again. "But I'm not a monster. I don't hurt people. And I hope that, when you finally realize that, we can be friends, because I think you're a really good guy, Dean, and I would hate to remain on your bad side."

Dean eyed me suspiciously, probably wondering why the hell I was being so nice to him when he just threatened to slowly torture me to death. Before either of us could say anything more, Sam burst through the door.

"Grab a gun, load up with silver, and get in the car. I know what's going on."

In the car, Sam filled us in on the conclusion he'd reached with Bobby.

"We've been looking at this trying to find out what's taking the kids, when in reality, it's the kids that are hurting people."

"What do you mean? Baby wolfs?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, basically. There's a big shot in town, creating a pack and trying to turn people through blood transfusions, but they were failing, so he started taking kids so that they could learn to obey him at a young age and then breed once they were trained well enough."

"Why AB positive blood?" I asked from the back.

"We figure this father wolf thing used to be an AB positive. We think he's probably part of the hospital staff and has been switching out the donated blood with some of his own, figuring to use a similar blood type so as to eliminate more risk of rejection."

"Then he could also keep close personal watch on the experimental patients," Dean offered, turning down the road Sam pointed to.

"Exactly," Sam said. "And when that didn't work, he went to Plan B and started grabbing kids."

"So, if I remember correctly, we get the big guy, and all the kids can go home normally, right?" I asked.

"Right."

"How do we know which staff member it is?" I asked.

I saw Dean's eyes brighten in the rearview mirror. "The only one that can't work nights around the full moon."

"How do we know which one that is?"

Sam's eyes met mine in the rearview mirror. "The one that was rushing out the door as the sun was going down."

My eyes widened. "Dr. Tannor."

When we got to the Tannor's, Sam quickly picked the lock on the front door and we fanned out, searching the first floor. Deciding it was clear, we then moved to the basement, slowly filing down the stairs in search of any crated kids. When we found no sign of the missing kids, we split up. Dean went to check upstairs while Sam and I searched the grounds.

The Tannors had a large estate at the edge of town with a huge house and lots of land. Guns at the ready, back to back, Sam and I slowly and silently scanned the backyard. We had just started to move farther away from the house when I saw a glimmer in the dark. It was then that I realized there were several pairs of hungry eyes glittering up at us from the bushes and trees.

I felt the muscles in Sam's back tense and I pressed up against him as a large group of savage looking children/wolves began to surround us. The made a fairly tight ring around us and we were reluctantly about to shoot, but hesitated when they stopped closing in, giving us about ten feet or so of breathing room.

Suddenly there was a loud crash and Dean came sailing through the air, out a top floor window, and hit the ground beside us with a hard thud. He lay there, wheezing painfully, holding his ribs, his tightly squeezed eyes leaking tears.

Just after him, a large wolf leaped from the same window and landed lightly on his feet a couple of yards in front of us, grinning at us with those terrible glimmering eyes.

My breathing quickened, my head swam, and I began to feel feverish as the sound of my own heart became deafening in my ears. Then, the ground suddenly came up to meet me and everything went black.

- Sam's POV -

Maybe two seconds after she was down, Diana had jumped back up again, with a new tension in her muscles. She glared at the wolf leader, Dr. Tannor, and stepped protectively in front of Dean and me, even though I'm a good foot taller than her. Her hands curled into hard fists and her eyes blazed with unknown power.

The wolf barked in such a way that it was as though he were laughing at her. His toothy grin and howling cackle was challenged, however, when Diana ran at him. I was too stunned to cry out, let alone move. The two made contact and, in the same instant, there was a terrible growl, a blood curdling scream, and the sound of Diana's gun going off.

In the next moment, the wolf slumped to the ground and shrank to become Dr. Tannor again. The kids surrounding us slowly became human again and glanced around, dazed and confused.

"Do you know how to get home?" Diana barked at them. The majority of them nodded. "GO!" she screamed. They obeyed quickly, the older ones dragging the younger ones along as they ran as fast as their little legs could carry them.

As they ran past, Dean slowly rose to his feet beside me, one hand holding his ribs, the other pointing his gun at Diana who looked at us, the power fading from her eyes, then crumpled to the ground. I merely looked at Dean, afraid I truly couldn't stop him this time. When I glanced back, Castiel was standing in front of Diana.

"Cas!" I gasped. "What are you doing here?"

Castiel calmly looked between Dean and me, then down at Diana, and back at us again.

"I am here to protect a heavenly weapon."

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	6. Chapter 6: Confessions

**This one is less plot focused, but I think still ****important...**

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- Sam's POV -

By the time Dean and I raced back to the motel, Cas had already taken Diana there and laid her down on my bed. He stood over her, watching her intently, his brow furrowed.

"Cas!" I shouted. "What the hell? You can't just tell us something like that then disappear!"

Cas silently turned around, touched Dean's forehead, and in another second, Dean stood up straight, the pain fading from his face. He turned around to watch Diana again.

"Cas!" Dean snapped. "What the hell is going on here?"

Cas refused to answer us, but after a moment, touched Diana's forehead gently. At his touch, her entire body tensed and she screamed like he was skinning her alive. At the same moment, Dean and I dove for Cas, pinning him to the ground. Dean moved all of his weight on top of him while I got up to try to help Diana.

"I don't give a damn what the hell you think she is! She is our responsibility and you will not touch her!" Dean shouted down at him.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I held Diana's face in my hands. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she thrashed violently, still screaming. I tried calling her name, but I knew she couldn't hear me, so I pulled her to me, pressing her against my chest, and spoke softly into her ear.

"Diana... Diana you need to wake up now... C'mon, Diana, please... You can do this... C'mon, wake up..."

She woke with a jolt, her eyes flying open, staring around the room wildly.

"Where am I? Where's Dean? Where are the kids? What happened? Is everyone okay?"

"Hey, hey, shhh," I held her face again, forcing her to look at me. "Everyone is okay. The wolf is dead, the kids are home, and Dean is safe. You're back at the motel. Everyone is all right."

"Who's Cas?" she choked out, swallowing the rest of her tears. I furrowed my brow momentarily, then pointed to Cas, now sitting in a chair with Dean watching him intently, arms folded, scowl in place.

"That's Castiel, he's an angel."

Diana closed her eyes, letting her head fall against my shoulder for a moment, then sat up again, wiping her cheeks, and looked at Cas. After a moment, she spoke.

"I could hear you. Is that true? Is that what I am?"

Cas nodded. "It's all true."

Diana nodded, biting her lip, then released it again when she met Castiel's gaze squarely. "Am I going to be watched constantly?" Cas nodded. "Why?"

"Because you are a precious creation and must be protected."

"If she's so precious to you, then why did you hurt her?" I demanded, remaining by Diana's side, guarding her as Dean guarded Cas, even though we both knew that he could toss us against the wall like wet paper towels if he wanted to.

Cas turned his gaze on me, looking at me as though he had just realized I was in the room. "I did not hurt her, I removed a block from the wall in her mind."

"Like Sammy's wall?" Dean barked. "Because that wall was _not_ to be touched, Cas! You know that! Are you trying to drive _her_ crazy too?"

Diana glanced up at me, puzzled. I just wrapped my arm around her and gave her arm a gentle squeeze. She accepted it and returned her attention to Castiel, who was now staring off into space, listening to another conversation. He stood abruptly.

"We must leave now."

"Why?" Diana demanded, shrinking into my side a bit. Cas's stare bore down into her, but Diana only sat up straighter and returned the determined gaze.

"Because an arch angel will be coming for you if we don't move." He stepped toward us and offered his hand, palm up, to Diana. She stood, and I immediately jumped up beside her.

"I'm not going with you!" she snapped. "If I'm so precious to you, where were you when my roommates were attacked? Where were you when my parents were in that fire? Where were you when I was on that bridge? Don't pretend like you were going to save me! It was the fact that I had no one to help me that led me to that ledge! I got down by myself! I got through school by myself! And I made the decision to become a hunter by myself! You claim you've been watching me my whole life, yet I have never met you and you left me alone when I was at my darkest! So, no! I refuse to go anywhere with you! And if more angels wanna come play fairy godmother, then I will point them to the door and tell them to shove it up their asses too!"

After a moment of tense silence, Cas spoke. "I can see that you are angry at the moment... I'll go for now, but I will be back." He disappeared.

On the road again, we rode in silence. Dean and I kept glancing in the rearview mirror to watch Diana in the back seat, earphones in, nose buried in a book. I watched the trees fly by in a blur as I wondered what must be going through her head, what Cas told her before we got there, and how much else we don't know about her. Then it struck me that we barely knew anything about her, and she knew little about us.

When we finally stopped for food, Diana muttered that she wasn't hungry, so I told her that she didn't have to eat anything or talk to anyone, but asked her to please come out of the car because Dean was probably going to eat a lot and she would overheat if she remained inside.

"I'm not a child," she snapped when she finally got out. "I don't need to be taken care of." She slammed the door and, before I could explain myself, she turned on her heel walked over to an outdoor table, sat down by herself, and opened her book again.

No one spoke again for the rest of the day. We drove until late evening, then pulled into another motel. Once in the room, I began to unroll a sleeping bag on the floor, as there were only two beds and this motel didn't have a couch like the last one did. As I was untying the straps, I saw Diana's legs approach out of the corner of my eye.

"What are you doing?"

I looked up at her. "I'm unrolling a sleeping bag."

"You're not sleeping on the floor."

I stood, brow furrowed. "Well, I have to sleep somewhere."

She motioned to the two beds behind us. "Pick one."

"You're not sleeping on the floor, either," I told her. She shrugged.

"I wasn't going to." Eyebrows knitted together, I glanced at Dean, confused. He was watching us silently, impassively. Diana's voice brought my attention back to her again. "Look, Sam, sleeping on the floor is terrible for you and you've probably done enough of it in your life time. There are two beds right there that neither I, nor Dean, can take up alone. Pick a bunk buddy, because you're sleeping in a bed."

She turned again and pulled sweat shorts and a tank top out of her back pack, then went to the bathroom to change. I glanced at Dean who gave me a look that said pick-this-bed-and-die, so I dropped my bag at the edge of the bed Diana had claimed.

Dean sighed and when I looked up, he was pulling on his jacket.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I don't wanna be here for this," he said as though it were obvious.

"For what?" It dawned on me and I shook my head. "Dean, that's not gonna happen."

"So you say. But let me tell you something, little brother, you have a history of sleeping with freaky chicks, they seem to turn you on." And with that, he left. I sighed, once again feeling misrepresented.

"I hope you know, that wasn't my intention." I turned to see Diana in the bathroom doorway.

"I know."

She nodded, shoved her clothes into her bag, then crawled onto the bed and sat, legs crossed. She chewed her lip and examined her hands while I got ready for bed, lacing and unlacing her fingers. Finally, she spoke.

"Sam, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, of course," I said, unbuttoning my shirt and discarding it on the floor. I sat down beside her in my jeans and undershirt. "What's up?"

"I wanted to know if I could ask you some questions in return for you asking me some. I wanna be able to get to know you better, and I figure you probably wanna know more about me too."

"Sure, that sound fair."

"Okay." She looked up and met my gaze for the first time, making my breath hitch slightly. "I'll start with something really easy."

I smiled. "Okay."

"What's your full name?"

I felt my smile grow. "Samuel Winchester."

"No middle name?"

I shrugged. "I guess not."

Her lips stretched into a small smile. "Fair enough."

"What's yours?" I asked.

"Diana Rose McKnight."

I raised my eyebrows. "Wow. That's quite the title."

She laughed a little. "Yeah, I know, it's kind of ridiculous. Um, what's your favorite childhood memory?"

I thought back through all the blood, sweat, and tears and found a small slice of happiness in the mess that was my childhood. "Well, when I was around ten or eleven years old, my dad was on the road, hunting something down, and he left Dean and I with Bobby for about a week. And one day, Bobby took us to a park. We were throwing a ball around and wrestling on the grass and playing with a neighborhood dog." I felt myself grin with the memory. "It was really great."

When I came back to reality, Diana was smiling up at me, hugging her legs, resting her chin on her knees.

"What?"

"You have no idea how much of your tension you just released merely _thinking_ about that day," she grinned. "It was nice to see you relax a bit."

I gave her a half smile, then decided to approach a sensitive subject. "Diana, can I ask you probably a hard question?" She nodded. "When you were yelling at Cas... You mentioned a dark time... What happened?"

She drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly as her eyes clouded over with dark memories and pain. "Well, my parents died in a fire when I was fifteen... And afterwards, I went on a downwards spiral... I didn't have anybody else... I was going to be sent to a foster home, but I ran away... I didn't get very far, though, and they picked me up again... I stayed in that foster home for two years, finished high school... I fell in love with some of the kids there... But they were never adopted... Everyone wanted babies... For years, the fire ate at me... And one day, I decided I was done... I didn't wanna do it anymore... Went to a bridge... Stood on the ledge... I remember thinking how beautiful the city lights looked on the water... And how I didn't get to tell my parents that I loved them... I remember going through that night in my head... I'd been fighting with my mom... Over a stupid party I wanted to go to... So I could see a stupid boy... My dad yelled at me for talking back to her... I ran to my room and started throwing things against the wall... I was so angry... A pillow hit my candle... And the curtains went up in flames..." Her lips and voice began to tremble as tears began to rim her eyes. "And my whole room was on fire... And it spread on the carpet to my pants... And I could feel it on my legs... And I could hear my mother screaming..." Tears started rolling down her cheeks and I reached for her hand. Her eyes came up to meet mine. "And I blacked out... And when I woke up, I was on the pavement... Just some minor burns... And my house was engulfed in flames... Hopeless... And I screamed for my mom... And no one answered... No one ever answered..."

She dissolved into tears and I pulled her into my arms, holding her to my chest. My heart broke for her, knowing she had had such a rough childhood, lived with so much guilt for so long, and now was being hunted down by angels and demons alike over something in her that she didn't even understand.

After a couple of moments, she pulled away again and wiped her cheeks, sniffing. "I, uh... I was gonna jump... But, um... I remembered my dad telling me once... That I was a fighter... That I never gave up... That I could do anything... Including talk myself down from a ledge... So I did... I got down... I walked to the foster home... Promised those kids I would never give up... And then I decided I needed to dedicate my life to helping people... To make up for what I'd done... So I applied for nursing school... Four years later, I was almost done, and you guys found me..." She sniffed, wiped her eyes again and looked up at me with a weak smile.

"Diana... That fire wasn't your fault..."

She nodded slowly. "I know... In my head, I know that... But my heart will always be heavy with that guilt..."

"We can't save everybody." We both looked up, surprised to see Dean standing in the door. I idly wondered why he'd come back, then saw his keys on the table. I could see in his eyes that he was looking at Diana in a new light, and I knew he finally saw the humanity in her and found himself relating to her. "And we can't be responsible for everyone... We can try our damned hardest... But we can't save everyone... And it sucks, I mean it really, really sucks... But all we can do is keep going. And keep trying to save as many as we can. Even though, sometimes... we can't."

Diana offered him her weak smile, then sighed and crawled under the covers. I looked up at Dean, saw the corner of his mouth twitch, then he turned his back when he caught me looking at him, grabbed his keys, and headed out the door.

I kicked off my shoes and slid beneath the blankets beside Diana. She rolled onto her side and smiled tiredly at me and I couldn't help but return it. She reached out and took my hand, stroking my knuckles with her thumb.

"So," she whispered. "Who's your favorite Harry Potter character?"

I smiled and we lay there like that, asking each other simple and heavy questions for a long time, often laughing, occasionally opening some deep wounds, but always feeling a bit better with each question. Her voice became softer and softer and, eventually, she stopped really making sense as she drifted to sleep, still holding my hand. It wasn't long before I was out, too, sleeping peacefully, they way I hadn't in a long time.

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	7. Chapter 7: Castiel's Visit

**I might bang out two updates today...**

**We'll see...**

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- Diana's POV -

When I woke the next morning, my head was on Sam's shoulder. How that happened, I'm not sure, but he was sleeping so deeply, he barely noticed when I got out of bed. I jumped in the shower, and just enjoyed the water for a little while. It wasn't hot, but it was bearable and more than anything, I just wanted to scrub off everything that had happened since that night that they showed up at the bar.

_Really, Diana? Do you? These guys are probably the best thing that's ever happened to you. Sure, they come with dark pasts, monsters, and death follows them wherever they go, but they get it. They get what it's like. And they have good hearts. You can't walk away from that..._

I got out of the shower and stared at my reflection. 5'4", long dark hair, hazel eyes, not slim, not wide. Average. In probably every sense of the word. Except for what the angel, Castiel, said.

He told me that I had many names, but that most of them were in languages I wouldn't understand and that English couldn't quite describe me properly. He entered my mind, tried to show me through images, but found that most of them were blocked off. So he started to remove a barrier. He said that the wall was preventing my full potential, keeping me hidden as a normal human, though I was not.

He came back last night. I almost screamed for the boys, but he told me that he was in my dreams, so they wouldn't hear me. While he was there, he started to remove more of the barrier, which hurt like nothing else, and sent horrifying images flashing through my head. I saw extensions of what I had seen earlier, Bobby stabbing the woman, Sam screaming for the blonde, Dean watching the boy be tortured, and the couple being skinned alive, and other various heartbreaking, gory scenes, involving the Winchesters, Bobby, and other people I didn't know.

When it was over, I felt like I had been hit by a train and fell away from Cas and my dreamworld, falling into darkness. I don't know how long it was before I woke, but it felt like a while.

Shaking the memory away, I stepped into some jeans and pulled on a fresh top, then padded out to the tiny little kitchen area. Looking around, I sighed, but knew I'd have to make due. I checked the cupboards and fridge. No food. Great. Shopping it is, then.

After I got back and had started cooking, the boys began to stir. I looked up to see Dean inhale the smell of breakfast and smile before opening his eyes. Sam's arm moved across the mattress where I had been sleeping, then his eyes flew open and he sat up like a jack knife. Finally seeing me, he relaxed again and rubbed his face.

"Morning," I sang, sliding some eggs and pancakes onto two plates. "Hungry?"

"Always," Dean replied, rolling from the bed and pouring himself some coffee. "Whatcha got there?"

"Eggs, toast, bacon pancakes."

His eyes grew wide. "I'm sorry, did you just say _bacon pancakes_?" I looked back at him and nodded, then handed him a plate. His smile grew and I think it finally dawned on me just how much this man loves food.

He glanced up at Sam as he sat at the small table and dug in. After his first bite, his grin grew somehow larger and through a mouthful of food he said, "Okay, we can keep her."

"Where did you learn to cook like this?" Sam asked when he ate some too.

I shrugged. "I don't know, practice, I guess. I liked cooking for the kids I lived with and they would try anything, so I just kept going." I sat down beside them with my own plate. "So, what's on the agenda today?"

"I'm gonna do a little research, see if I can't find anymore wacky or maybe get Cas to spill the beans about this whole heavenly weapon thing," Dean grumbled around his food.

"And you and I are gonna do some more training," Sam added.

"Are you gonna make me run again?" I groaned. He laughed and nodded. "I hate running."

"Too bad, we do a lot of it."

"You have fun with that," Dean snickered, shoveling the rest of his food in, then dumping his plate in the sink. "Catch you guys later." And out the door he went.

"He hates cleaning, doesn't he?" I smiled, moving to the sink to finish the dishes.

"Here, I got that," Sam said, coming up behind me and moving me away from the sink. "You go change."

"Okay, thanks."

When we found a park, we made our way behind the playground and up into the woods and found a trail. Sam started me off with a fast walk, then a sprint, then a jog. At the end, I was breathing hard and he was only slightly winded. I punched him in the arm.

"You and your long legs, you friggen giant!"

"Sensitive about your height, shorty?" he laughed. I mocked his laugh, then squatted down and swept my legs under him. He hit the ground with a low thump.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall, huh?" I teased.

He grinned. "Nice aim. You hit my Achilles." He jumped up again. "But now I'm ready for you."

"Come at me, bitch."

We practiced a few punches, kicks, and blocks, then dropped the techniques and just kinda started rolling around and swinging at each other. He obviously went very easy on me, I mean, the guy's at least twice my size, probably more. Then we started swinging at each other with small branches and I felt like I was five again, playing with fake swords.

Suddenly, Castiel appeared in front of me and I froze.

"Good morning, Diana. Hello, Sam," he said in that gravelly voice. I felt all of my muscles tense and my grip tighten around my branch. "I have come to take Diana for testing."

"Like hell you have," Sam glared. "Cas, what the hell is going on with you? You're acting like robot-angel again."

Castiel pulled a marker out of his trench coat pocket and wrote something on his hand. He showed it to us. _Shield the room against angels._

"But what about you?" he asked softly. Cas wrote on his other hand. _Seal me in._

Sam nodded, took my hand, and ran.

Back at the room, Dean was about to spout questions but Sam put his finger to his lips. Castiel appeared at the end of Dean's bed, then showed his hands to us again. Sam and Dean went about writing on the walls and floors with white chalk. I took a mental picture of the symbols and made a note to myself to ask about them later.

Finally, they put the chalk away and wiped their hands on their pants.

"Okay, Cas, what's going on?" Sam asked. Castiel relaxed a bit.

"As you know, the angels are recollecting their scattered weapons. They want to collect Diana, but not just to shelf her, they want to test her, see her limits, then try to use her."

"For what?" Dean asked, arms folded, his voice clearly expressing his thinning patience. "You still haven't provided any explanations, Cas."

Cas looked at me, brow furrowed. "I thought you would have told them."

"I don't even understand half of what you tried to tell _me_!" I protested. Cas sighed, paced across the room a few times, then stopped and turned to us again.

"It is very hard to express this in English, but I will do my best... Diana is very old."

I knitted my eyebrows together, shooting him a skeptic look. "I'm 22..."

"In this life, yes," Castiel agreed. All of our eyebrows shot up and we glanced at each other, me just as confused and surprised as them.

"Are you saying she's been reborn?" Dean asked. Cas nodded.

"Many, many times. She- That is, her soul, is even older than I. The angels of the Lord want to recollect the weapons that are theirs, but my Father was not Diana's only Creator. She was created by the combined efforts of several gods. Somewhat like Pandora's Box, they created an incredible power, but found it too difficult to control, so they reshaped it and put it in the strongest vessel they could think of, a pure human soul. Of course, this soul was far too precious to allow to go to any heaven, hell, purgatory, or limbo that any of these gods controlled, so when it's body died, the memories were erased and it was put into another body. It was also much easier to keep on hand this way, in case it needed to be unleashed."

Shit, I needed to sit down. I plopped down into a chair at the small motel table, my mind running wild with countless questions.

"So... This power... What does it do?"

"Well, I suppose you could think of it like a mirror," Castiel replied, watching me closely, examining me like a bug in a box. "This mirror, however, does not reflect appearances, but abilities. Diana has the power to tap into the nature and abilities of her opposer and replicate it. For example, if she was put up against a vampire, with focus and determination, she too could attain their speed, strength, and grow fangs."

I shuddered and felt Dean and Sam eye me warily.

"So, what's the catch?" Sam asked. "There's always some kind of catch."

"Well, there is a 'catch,' as you say, for both Diana and those who created her. For Diana... Well, she will never be allowed to move on. If she had chosen to take her own life to see her parents again that night on the bridge, she would not have been allowed to. Her memory would have been wiped and her soul would have been placed into a new body. She will never achieve rest, but will be forced to live life over and over again, and experience death, over and over again."

I inhaled sharply with the realization of my lack of free will when it came to my own life, and exhaled painfully when I realized I had no hope of easing my loneliness. I would always lose people, and always forget them. My life was practically a mirage, merely keeping my soul occupied while I waited to be taken of the shelf and used as a weapon against my will. In that moment, I sank lower than I ever had before. I had so hoped I could make up for all of my mistakes, help people, save lives, as a nurse, a hunter, an amateur cook in a foster home... And now I felt all of my aspirations crumble...

Castiel kept talking, but I could no longer hear him. I was drowning in my own thoughts, feeling hopeless, useless, insignificant... All of a sudden, the motel room, Sam, Dean, Castiel... Everything melted away and all I could hear was rushing water. The twinkling lights of the city mingled with the stars and danced on the water as I stepped up onto the ledge. A cool breeze pulled my hair from my face and rustled my top as I stared down at the glittering surface, concealing the dark depths that would allow me to forget all of this and start over, at least thinking I'm normal... I had no hope of helping anyone... Not the Winchesters... Not the kids in the home... I was just a burden to all of them... Slowing them down and adding extra worry... The only way I could ever be of any help was if I disappeared...

Inhaling deeply, I lifted my foot to step off, when I could hear something whispering in the back of my head... I closed my eyes, trying to concentrate... The voice that protested my hesitation insisted I ignore it and step off, but, using all of my resolve, I pushed that voice away and grasped desperately for the whisper... My father spoke softly in my ear...

_You are a fighter. You will never give up. You can do anything. You can keep going. You will always keep going._

I felt tears slide down my cheeks as these words were chanted into my ear. After a moment, I realized that it wasn't my father's voice, it was Sam's. But then it wasn't his voice anymore, it was my mothers. Then it was Haley and Anne, my roommates. Then, it was my own voice, chanting inside my head.

_You are a fighter. You will never give up. You will always keep going. You are a fighter. You will never give up. You will always keep going._

As I slowly opened my eyes, the city, river, and bridge disappeared and three intense gazes bore down into me.

"Diana?" Sam spoke softly. "Are you okay?" I just blinked at him, trying to regain my bearings.

"Maybe, we should let her be," Dean suggested. "This is a lot to swallow. Let's leave it for now."

"There is so much you must know," Cas protested, taking a step towards me. "I must remove the barrier. She must prepare-"

Dean stepped in front of him, holding up a hand. "Cas, I said leave her be," he growled.

"No." My voice finally came. I stood up on shaky legs, doing my best to keep my voice steady. "I can handle this."

"Diana, this is a lot, even for us," Sam said, holding my shoulders and looking into my eyes, his brow creased with worry. "Are you sure you want to hear this all at once? No one will blame you if you want to take some time to digest."

I gave him a small smile and touched his hands on my shoulders. Looking into his eyes and taking a deep breath, I nodded. "Sam, I can do this. I am a fighter. I will never give up. And I will always keep going."

The corner of his mouth turned up in a sad smile. He whispered something very softly, I think it was an apology, then dropped his hands and turned back to Dean and Cas. I walked forward, passing Sam and Dean, meeting Castiel's severe gaze. I swallowed hard and mustered up all the strength I had and nodded.

"I'm ready."

Castiel rose two fingers, gently touched them to my forehead, and my skull exploded with blinding white light and searing pain.

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	8. Chapter 8: Electricity

**It's kinda short, but it's the second one of the day, so deal... :P**

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I felt like I was living a thousand lives, each in ten seconds or so. Images of different people, times, and places flashed around in my brain. Everyone was different, new, even I was. My name, my appearance, my public identity, all continuously shifted and changed. The only thing that stayed constant was the violence. There was always violence. Fire, blades, blood, screaming, bones snapping, torture.

I could hear voices in my head, screaming for mercy, sobbing for help, begging for the lives of their friends and family to be spared. I saw it all, and I felt it all. I saw a woman tried for being a witch and felt the noose chafing my throat and the panic of suffocation when they hanged her. I saw a man stabbed to death and felt each searing slice as I too was stabbed, just as he. When I watched a child burn at the stake, I felt the fire consume me and smelled my own burning hair and flesh, my ears ringing with my own deafening screams mingling with the child's.

But, I wasn't just feeling the victim's pain. I also felt all of the pain of those who loved them as they were forced to watch everyone of them die before their eyes, their lives being ripped from them, slowly. Excruciating pain and paralyzing fear were the last sparks in their eyes before they were lifeless, cold, blank.

Suddenly, my eyes snapped open and I sat up straight, gasping desperately for air. I looked around wildly, lost and confused and, quite frankly, terrified. Someone came up next to me and, without thinking, I punched them as hard as I could. We both cried out as I pulled back, cradling my fist momentarily, before someone's laugh made me freeze.

Finally regaining my senses, I realized Dean was laughing and that I had just landed a right hook on Sam's jaw. I gasped.

"Oh God! Oh God, I'm so sorry!" I scrambled off the bed. "Let me get you some i-Whoa!" And I fell flat on my face. Dean laughed harder and then stooped to help me to my feet.

"Are you all right?" he asked, grinning. I nodded, once again confused and dizzy. Dean sat me down on the bed again, then looked up at Sam. "You good?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he exhaled, rubbing his jaw gently, then looking down at me shocked. "Jesus! Remind me never to wake you before you're ready."

I peered up guiltily at him. "I'm sorry."

"Ah, don't worry about it, he's had worse," Dean said, sipping his beer. Sam nodded.

"Yeah, it's fine, I was just surprised."

"Bullshit, that one hurt, I could tell," Dean started chuckling again. Sam shot him a look.

"Shut up."

"Didn't mean to bruise your ego," I bit my lip, trying to hide my smile. Dean's grin grew. Sam looked back at me.

"Shut up!" he protested, smiling despite himself. I smiled, then exhaled and rubbed my head. I felt like I'd been dead for a hundred years and had just been woken up. My limbs were heavy and my head was foggy and ached.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Cas removed the barrier and you were out cold for a few days," Dean said, pulling out another beer and offering it to me. I took it and began chugging. "Easy, there. Jesus."

I returned the empty bottle. "I feel like I've been dead for a hundred years and my head hurts like a bitch."

"You hungry?" he asked.

"Starving."

"I'll go grab some grub," Dean said. Oh, he's hungry too. Shocker. "Sam, fill her in, will ya?" And out the door he went. Pie calls.

"Where are we?" I asked, accepting the second beer Sam handed me.

"Well... We're in a secluded underground hideout that was run by an elite group of supernatural experts that now belongs to Dean and I. This is about as close to home as we'll ever get."

I looked at him with wide eyes. "You have a lair?"

He grinned. "Yeah, we have a lair. And this," he gestured to the walls around us, "is your room."

"I get a room?" I asked, obviously way too excited for this. He laughed a little.

"Yeah."

"Yes!" I sat back against the pillow propped up on the headboard. "I feel so special!"

"You should," he smiled. "You're pretty special."

I felt my cheeks flush and glanced down at my lap, trying really hard to suppress my grin. Why was I acting like such an idiot?

"That-that is... uh... I mean, you know... We've never... Never really told-" Sam stuttered awkwardly and I decided to try to save him a little.

"It's okay, Sam," I said softly, offering him a shy smile. "I know what you meant."

He took refuge in his beer, taking a large swig so he didn't have to try to speak any more. We looked around awkwardly for a few long, silent moments before he finally broke it.

"So, um, how are you feeling?"

"Not too bad. I've been worse. I feel like I've been hit over the head really hard."

"Well, do you need ice or anything?" I shook my head. He started to stand. "Are you sure, 'cause it's not a problem. I could just-"

"Sam," I cut him off. "I'm fine, really. I'd like it if you stayed, actually." He nodded and sat down again.

"You sure you're all right?" he asked again after a moment. I smiled.

"Yes, Sam, I'm fine. Why are you so worried?"

He looked down at his lap, almost ashamed or embarrassed. "Well, you were out cold for three days and when Castiel took down the barrier, you were screaming and I was- I was afraid for you... I know what it's like... To see things that aren't real... But hurt just the same..."

I felt my heart go out to him. He had a lot of scars, but he was still going, still fighting. Just like me.

Setting my beer down, I took his hand in both of mine and squeezed it gently. Stroking my thumbs over his knuckles, I thought about how much he must have endured up to now. How many people he must have lost, and how much pain he had gone through. I thought about all that he had missed out on because he was selflessly saving lives at the expense of his own. He and Dean were shouldering the world together, just the two of them, thanklessly.

Without thinking, I brought his hand to my lips and kissed it lightly. When I looked up again, his face was inches away from mine. A moment passed and nothing happened, we just sat there, my brain completely off, my eyes locked on his lips, my body frozen on standby. Then, he leaned forward and kissed me.

The kiss lingered, at least a good five seconds, but was still over too fast. I wasn't disappointed for long though because, as soon as the first ended, the second began. Sam leaned into me more and I slid my arms up, around his neck as he gently pushed me onto my back. He moved so that he was lying on top of me, hands on my hips. I touched his lips gently with my tongue and, when they parted, slowly began to explore his mouth. He followed suit, his tongue gliding over mine, and I was immediately intoxicated. He tasted so sweet and I got goosebumps when he slid his hands beneath me, splaying his fingers across my back and sending chills up my spine.

Then, all too soon, we heard a door slam and Dean's voice rang out, announcing his return with food. Our lips parted, and we looked up at each other, breathing heavily, just staring at each other for a moment, trying to comprehend what just happened. As soon as Sam moved off of me and stood, I realized that I really didn't want him to.

I stood as well, blushing fiercely, and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear while he looked for something to say. He decided silence was best and started out of the room toward's Dean's voice. I followed him, trying to appear nonchalant and probably failing horribly.

At the table, Dean led the conversation, Sam and I answering with as few words as possible.

"So, did you fill her in on the rest of what Cas said?" Dean asked through a mouthful of food.

"I-uh-I didn't. I got... sidetracked," Sam confessed. I bit my lip, eyes trained on my plate, then remembered how famished I was and began eating a lot faster.

"Well, basically, now that the barrier's down, you're so powerful, you could potentially kill a god," Dean said casually.

I froze and looked up at him with huge eyes.

"Huh?"

"Yep," Dean nodded. "And because you're nuclear, you're gonna be on lockdown until you can control yourself. That means no more surprise blackouts and no sudden bursts of power that cause entire cities to black out."

"I didn't..."

"Oh yes you did," Dean raised his eyebrows. "While you were unconscious, at that. Imagine what would've happened if you were awake."

I took a deep breath. "Jesus... Okay, well am I to stay here then? Meditate and practice my control while you guys are hunting?"

"You'll always be with someone," Dean assured me. "We'll take turns watching over you, making sure you're safe, and I've also called in a favor. Our good friend Charlie is gonna come by to help out as well."

I nodded. "Okay, sounds good. Um, will I be allowed to poke around a little bit? You know, check out the other rooms, flip through the books?"

Dean shrugged. "I don't mind. Sammy?"

Sam looked up to meet my gaze for the first time. Our eyes locked for a moment and, I swear, the air became electrically charged or something.

"Uh, yeah," Sam said softly, our eyes still locked. "Yeah, feel free."

"Thanks."

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	9. Chapter 9: Charlie's Meddling

**Not very eventful, but I felt it necessary**

**Feel free to disagree**

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- Sam's POV -

The next day, Diana was already diving headfirst into research and her own training. When I woke up, Dean was watching her practice shooting. I came in behind him to watch her for a minute or two. Her aim was definitely improving and she always remembered her stance. She moved the gun around in her hands, trying different ways to hold it, shifting her gaze as she went, only missing maybe twice. As she shifted her weight, I found myself noting the way her knee-length shorts were hanging from her hips and the shape her top took as it clung to her body.

A small noise beside me brought me out of my thoughts and I looked over to see Dean watching me. Realizing he probably just saw my thought process, I turned away from the room and slowly began to walk away. Behind me I could hear Dean telling Diana that she'd had enough practice and she should go get some food. She agreed and walked off in the other direction. Dean caught up with me quickly.

"All right, man, spill."

I looked up at him innocently. "Spill?"

Dean gave me a don't-be-stupid look. "I saw the way you were watching her and don't think I didn't notice the tension at the table last night. I was practically having a conversation by myself. I felt like I was sitting with a couple of teenagers. What happened while I was gone?"

I shrugged. "Nothing."

Dean stopped me and cocked an eyebrow.

I broke. "I... I kissed her."

He folded his arms. "Hang on. Did you kiss her or did you... _kiss_ her?"

It all bubbled up and like an idiot, I actually kinda gushed. "I full on, lying on the bed, hands on, _kissed_ her."

"Tongue?"

"Oh yeah."

Dean's face split into a grin and he slapped me on the back. "Way to go, man. So, what happened last night?"

I shrugged. "Nothing."

"Wait, what? _Nothing_?" I shrugged again. "Even after that?" I just raised my eyebrows in response. Dean lowered his voice. "Do you think she didn't like it?"

"No, I think she did she just-" I sighed. "I don't know what she thought."

"But you did go after that, right?"

"Well, I mean..."

"Oh, c'mon, man! You made out with her on the bed and then didn't go back later?"

"I'm sure she was tired," I protested.

"Dude, she's been sleeping for three days. I'm sure she's been up this whole time."

"Well, I-" but the sound of an approaching car saved me. "Oh! That's probably Charlie!" I started up the stairs quickly. Dean groaned and followed me.

Outside, we were greeted by a bright yellow, junky old car. The little nerdy redhead jumped out, grinning.

"Whaddup, bitches?"

We grinned and each hugged her hard. She was grilling Dean on our plans to go to the LARPing war while I got her bags out of the trunk.

"Jesus, Charlie, what do you have in here?"

"All of my game systems, duh!" she replied with a smile. "So, what's new?" she asked as we walked down into the front control room.

"Sam's got a new girl," Dean smirked.

Before I could protest, Charlie whipped around to grin at me. "No way!"

"Yup, and she could take on a god if she wanted to," Dean continued, enjoying feeding Charlie's crazy matchmaker side.

"Holy shit!" she gasped. "Sam, I knew you had a taste for powerful chicks, but a _god_? You're banging a _god_!"

"I'm not banging anybody!" I protested.

"I have to meet her! Is she here?" Charlie continued, looking around eagerly.

"Well, _she's_ not a god," Dean admitted. "But she could still take one on. And she's actually the girl I asked you here to help us keep an eye on. We just need to make sure she doesn't hurt herself while she learns to control this new power she's got."

"Oh absolutely," Charlie grinned mischievously. "I will watch her _very_ closely for you guys."

Dean grinned at her, then at me, knowing full well how flustered I was. "Hey, Diana!" he called out. "Come here! We want you to meet our friend Charlie!"

Diana walked in from the library, nose still buried in a book and I saw Charlie's eyes light up. Before she was caught, Charlie looked over at me and nodded approvingly. Diana marked her page with the spine's ribbon and smiled up at us.

"Diana, this is Charlie," I interjected. "The little sister we never wanted." Charlie stuck her tongue out at me, but Diana only grinned.

"Hi, I didn't know Charlie was a girl! That's awesome, I love your name!"

"Thanks, I picked it out myself," Charlie smiled, tossing her hair over one shoulder. "So you're Diana?"

"I am."

"I like your name too!" Charlie said, smirking at me. "Like the goddess!"

"Yeah, it is," Diana agreed good-humoredly. Charlie immediately snatched her arm and began towing her away.

I threw an annoyed look at a grinning Dean. "You're very pleased with yourself, aren't you?"

"Indeed I am, little brother. Indeed I am."

- Diana's POV -

Charlie was super cool, I really liked her. She was totally nerdy, which was awesome, and she obviously loved the boys deeply. It was really nice to see them all tease each other and act, if only for a few hours, like normal guys. After we all wound down from her arrival, Charlie and I went to the library to look up anything that could potentially help me learn more about my history, my abilities, or how to control them. She was very helpful and had this neat little app on her iPad that she'd created to organize the characteristics of different demons and monsters and she began to create scenarios and narrate how a battle would pan out between me and the monster of her choice. I listened, amused, but also secretly terrified. She painted me as a great hero, but I didn't feel like one. I felt like a lost girl who was still afraid of herself, let alone the horrible monsters that she now knew were lurking in the shadows and hiding under her bed.

Speaking of beds... Whoa... Last night... I'd never been kissed so intensely before... It was incredible and I wished it would've lasted longer, but maybe it was good that it didn't. It could have just been an in the moment thing that would've ended up causing too much tension if it had gone any farther because Sam didn't even actually want to. I mean, did I even want to...? Oh, who was I kidding, yes I did. Badly. And the way he looked at me when Dean came in... Whoa...

I was so lost in my thoughts, I was a bit startled when I finally heard Charlie call my name. My lower lip fell from between my teeth and I jumped a bit.

"I'm sorry, yeah?"

Charlie smirked at me. "You've been staring at that title page for about three minutes now. You okay?"

"Yeah," I smiled, guiltily. "I'm fine."

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" I shrugged. "Maybe... Sam...?"

I froze and opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out. Charlie's eyes lit up and, shoving my books aside, she hopped up onto the table in front of me.

"Oh my God! Spill!" she gushed. Hesitant, I chewed my lip, trying to decide if this was a good idea. "Oh come on!" she whined. "Sammy's got awful luck with girls and I really wanna know if he's finally getting somewhere! Especially with someone so sweet!"

I blushed furiously and took a deep breath. "We... Um... We... Kissed... Last night... On my bed..."

Charlie almost squealed. "Oh my God! I ship it! I ship it so hard! Who kissed whom?"

"Well... He kissed me first... But I was _definitely_ kissing him back..."

She did a little dance on the table and I laughed, somewhat nervously. "Oh my God! What else happened?"

"Nothing."

"_Nothing_?" Charlie's jaw fell to the floor. "Girl, please! You gotta go after that!"

"I-I don't know if that's what he wanted to happen... I think it was just... A spur of the moment thing, you know?"

Charlie gave me a look. "Here's the thing, I know Sam and he doesn't just _do_ spur of the moment things when it comes to girls. So, either he really wanted that, or, he liked you so much, he let his testosterone drive. Either way, it's a good sign and you have to go get him!"

"Charlie, I appreciate your input, but I don't know if either of us could handle... That is, in the situation we are..."

Charlie took my hand in hers. "Look, Diana, no one's asking you guys to get married. But you like him, he likes you, why not just let go and see what happens? If it goes south, you can end it. All I know is, Sam is a big teddy bear of a guy who just cares. He's really damaged, sure, but that's what makes him so understanding and compassionate. And he clearly cares about you and you care about him. You can help each other out here, and have some fun in the process. You're drawn to each other for a reason. Maybe you need to just relax and let it all play out. Take a leap of faith. He made his move, now it's time for you to make yours."

Charlie's words bounced around in my head all day. I tried to focus, but found it was useless. I was absolutely consumed with curiosity and anxiety. I just really needed to know how Sam felt so I could figure out how to approach everything else. It seemed that my entire ability to function depended on his answer. Of course... I had yet to ask him the question... I argued with myself all day, about whether or not it would be appropriate to ask him, and when I should ask him, where I should ask him, how I should ask him, if I should ask him at all.

_Of course you should ask him!_ Charlie's voice screamed in my head. _You need to get this straight!_

I was still debating that night when I bumped into him in the hallway.

"Oh! I'm sorry," I blushed, wanting to shove my nose farther into the book I'd been pretending to read.

"No, no, it was my fault," he smiled apologetically.

"Where you headed?" I asked, trying to be casual. He shrugged.

"Just to my room. Why, did you need something?"

"Uh-um, no... No, I'm good. Thanks," I smiled shyly. He nodded and started down the hall again. The Charlie in my head kicked me. "Actually, Sam?"

He turned around again. "Yeah?"

"Can I-uh-can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, of course."

"Um... About last night..." I ran through options in my head as quickly as possible.

_I didn't mean for that to happen. _No... _Did you mean to do that? _Ugh, no...

"I enjoyed it," I finally admitted. I think I saw him breathe a sigh of relief.

"I-uh-I did too."

We stood there for a moment, each of us unsure of what to do next, so I took Charlie's advice and I took a leap of faith.

"Hey, Sam?"

"Yeah?"

I reached up, grabbed the collar of his button-down, and pulled him against me, bringing my mouth up to meet his. This kiss was very different, still amazing and intense, but much more feverish and urgent. We dropped our books and wrapped our arms tightly around each other, mine around his neck, his around my waist. He pulled me against him roughly, then swept me from my feet, setting me on his hips. I wrapped my legs around him, clinging to him, pulling his lower lip gently between my teeth as he practically ran me down the hall and stumbled into a room on the left, slamming the door behind us. Falling down onto the bed, I straddled his lap while his hands slowly moved up my thighs and hips, finding the hem of my blouse and tugging it over my head. And this time, no one stopped us.

- Sam's POV -

I don't know how long we lasted, but when we'd finished, we were both exhausted. I lay beside her, eyes closed, breathing heavily, my hand resting on her belly. After a few moments catching our breath, I felt her lift my hand to her lips and plant gentle kisses from each of my fingertips, up my arm, to my shoulder. I hummed softly, smiling, then opened my eyes to see her face hovering over mine. She kissed the corner of my mouth lightly and I shivered.

"Tease," I whispered, wrapping my arms around her. She smiled before kissing my lips.

I reached up to push her hair out of her face and as my fingertips grazed her scalp, her soft, thick hair sliding through my fingers, she closed her eyes and sighed and rested her head on my chest. As I continued to run my fingers slowly through her hair, she traced invisible shapes on my chest and stomach lightly with her finger.

"You know how I give you a hard time about your hair and I keep telling you to cut it?" she murmured.

"Mmhmm..."

"I've changed my mind... I like it..."

I felt a grin split my face. I don't know why I was so pleased. I think I was just blissful. I kissed her hair and we lay in the silence for a little while, happy just being able to touch each other.

"Sam?" her voice came softly again. "I'm scared..."

"Of what, baby?" I whispered, stroking her cheek with my thumb.

"Of hurting someone... Of not being able to make up for all of my mistakes... Of turning down the wrong path..."

"Hey," I coaxed her face up to mine so I could look into her eyes. "You are a good person, Diana... And you have people here to help you... If anyone knows anything about making huge mistakes and stumbling down the wrong path, it's me, okay? And I won't let that happen to you... I will always protect you..."

She nuzzled her head against my chest again and I wrapped my arms a bit tighter around her, kissing her hair again. And, with her in my arms, my nose filled with her heavenly scent, we slowly fell asleep and for just a moment, everything seemed perfect. For a moment.

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	10. Chapter 10: The Ultimate Walk of Shame

**I'm so glad I have readers and that you all are enjoying my story, but, honestly,**

**I'm just making this up as I go and I would really, really appreciate it if**

**a couple more of you would give me some feedback...**

**Thank you!**

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- Diana's POV -

I was peacefully asleep for the first time in about as long as I could remember when Sam's phone blared into the silence, making us both jump. We clutched each other, confused, then realized it was his phone and both groaned. He reached out to grab it off the side table while I buried my face in his neck.

"Hello?" he asked groggily. Then his voice became urgent. "What? Why would you- Nevermind. Look, where are you? All right, just hold tight, I'll be right there." He hung up, pulled himself out from under me and jumped out of bed, rushing around to pull on his clothes.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked, pulling the sheet with me as I sat up.

"Dean and Charlie went after a case. They're in trouble. I need to go back them up."

"Oh, uh uh!" I responded, jumping up as well and pulling on my clothes from the day before. "_We_ need to go back them up."

"No way! You're still learning to control this thing, you could get hurt!"

"Try to stop me," I challenged. I saw the muscles in his jaw tense, his eyebrows pulled together in frustration.

"Diana, Dean and Charlie are in trouble, so I don't have time to argue with you, but I _promise_ you, we'll talk about this later." He stalked out of the room and I followed him, having to practically run to keep up with him.

_Damn. One night and we're already arguing._

We raced to an abandoned warehouse somewhere upstate in Charlie's bright yellow car. We found the black Impala, grabbed some extra guns from the trunk and ran around the back, listening hard for Charlie or Dean. We found a window to peek through and saw the two pinned up against a wall by an invisible force, arguing.

A man in a black suit sauntered in, speaking to them casually, waving and flipping his hands as he spoke.

Sam's eyes darkened. "Crowley." But before I could ask him who Crowley was, we were flying through the window and sliding across the cement floor, skidding to a halt at Crowley's feet.

"Hello, Moose," he drawled in a gravelly British accent. I blinked up at him, then looked at Sam.

"Did he just call you Moose?" I asked. Sam rolled his eyes and jumped up, pulling me with him.

"Sammy!" Dean barked from his chains. "What is she doing here?"

"I don't care!" Charlie butt in. "Use your super powers! Get us out of here, this guy's wacked!"

"So _you're_ causing all the ruckus upstairs, are you?" Crowley grumbled, stepping close to me. Sam got between us quickly.

"Don't touch her," he growled, threateningly.

"Shoo, fly," Crowley snapped, throwing Sam against the far wall with a wave of his hand. "Blah, blah, blah."

"Sammy, really?" Dean chastised. "She's not supposed to leave?"

"You keeping the lovely creature from seeing the light of day, are you?" Crowley called to them, then looking at me, smirked and said, "And they call _me_ cruel." He began to circle me. "So, what are you, exactly, love?"

"What are _you_?" I snapped. "A vulture?"

He chuckled darkly, then glanced at the boys. "She's got a smart mouth." He flipped his hand and I felt like an invisible person and shoved me back a few steps. He frowned at me and waved his hand again. I backed up a few more steps.

"What are you doing? What is she doing?" he yelled at the others, still bound to the wall by invisible chains. I saw the boys' jaws tense up and I bit my lip, starting to panic.

_No. Diana, stop. You've got this. You've got this. Stop freaking out about the problem. Find a solution. Find a solution._

Glancing around the room, I took a mental inventory of my surroundings. Taking into consideration that Crowley was obviously a demon, if a powerful one, and he must've wanted me for something, because I wasn't up against the wall with the others, I started trying to think of ways to get him away or at least get the other's out.

"Use your superpowers, Goddess!" Charlie yelled.

"Charlie!" the Winchesters yelled back. Charlie flinched.

"What? She can save the day!"

"What are these superpowers?" Crowley growled. I did my best to appear completely calm and collected.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

Crowley chuckled, then spread his arms, presenting himself. With a flourish, he blew all of the windows out with a deafening crash. I cocked an eyebrow, pretending to be unimpressed. Doing my best to mimic his exact motions, posture, flourish, even expression, I threw my arms out like he did and the entire ceiling was swept up into the air, then came raining down around us in pieces. My head felt like it was going to split in half, like when Castiel brought down the barrier.

"What the hell?" Dean muttered.

Crowley smirked, then lifted his hand towards me.

"He's gonna use the force!" Charlie croaked.

As my throat constricted, I copied his movements and saw a muscle in his cheek twitch. I felt like molten lava was rushing around inside my body, cracking my bones and making my blood boil, burning me from the inside out. I grunted with the effort of trying to keep my hold on whatever the hell it was that was freaking this guy out.

When my vision started to darken, I panicked and threw out my other arm, hoping for the best. Crowley visibly tensed, then twisted his face into an awful snarl and disappeared in a puff of red smoke. The tightness in my throat released and I collapsed on the ground gasping for air, my nose gushing blood. The other three fell from their invisible binds to the floor with groans.

Between violent coughing, I hoarsely tried to ask if anyone was hurt.

"We're good," Dean groaned, helping Charlie to her feet.

"Yeah, super good. Thanks, Goddess."

"Hey, hey," Sam rushed to my side, pushing my hair away from my face as I coughed. "Easy... Easy..."

"What is she doing here?" Dean demanded. "She was supposed to stay at home!"

"Not now!" Charlie scolded, swatting his arm. "You can fight when we get back, for now, just bite your lip and go get the car."

Sam scooped me up into his arms and stood, holding me close, whispering something I couldn't hear. When I coughed again, blood sputtered out of my mouth. I hoped to God that it had been from my nose, then allowed the blackness to envelop me.

_"No! Please! Make it stop! Dean, please! Help me! Please!"_

_"Ben! No! My son! Please! Stop it! Please!"_

_"Lisa! You let them go, you son of a bitch!"_

Cackling rang through my head as my eyes flew open. I gasped and coughed some more as Charlie jumped up beside me.

"Hey! Crotchety old ladies! Quit bickering! She's up!"

I started to scramble to my feet, barely keeping my balance as the boys strode in.

"What the hell was that?" Dean demanded.

"Dean, she was concerned for you! She did what she could! Everyone's okay!" Sam argued.

"Yes, and exposed herself to the friggen King of Hell!" Dean yelled.

"STOP!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, shocking them all. Breathing heavily, I whipped around to face Dean. "Who's Ben and Lisa?"

Dean's expression darkened. "How do you know about them?"

"I keep seeing them in my head."

"What do you mean? What have you been seeing?"

"A lot of things. I keep seeing this couple being skinned alive and I keep seeing a little boy, Ben, being tortured and Bobby stabbing a woman and Sam trying to save a blonde girl on the ceiling? Jessica, maybe? And I see a bunch of other people too, but those are the most common ones. There's a lot of violence going on in my head, and I can never tell if it has already happened or if I'm imagining it."

"I have to go make sure they're okay," Dean grumbled, rushing out of the room.

"Dean, wait!" Sam ran after him. "You can't go alone!"

I looked up at Charlie who rolled her eyes playfully at their arguing. She offered me a smile, but I only sat back down on the bed and put my head between my knees, suffering from the fogginess in my head, nausea, and the weight of the guilt that I now felt as a result of worrying Dean and endangering their lives earlier with Crowley. They were right, I should've stayed behind, but I was so worried.

"Charlie, I don't know what to do," I sighed, lifting my head again.

"What do you mean?" she asked, sitting down beside me.

"All I want is to help them. I just really, really want to help. But I'm still uncontrollable right now and my power is unreliable. I have no idea how we got away from Crowley, that was dumb freaking luck that I could reciprocate his actions. I could've gotten us all killed and I am so so sorry for putting you and the boys in harm's way and I-"

"Hey," she cut me off, taking my hand. "These guys have done this all their lives, alone, as well as with others, but mostly as partners. They know what they're getting into. As for me, I choose to continue my friendship with them at my own risk. I know what could potentially happen, but I also know that my heroes will always bust down the door to save me. You just happen to have been added to that list." She smiled and pat my hand. "I get that you wanna help. But just be patient with yourself, all right? As soon as you've got full control, you can absolutely take down any and every freaky, monster, demon bitch you come up against. Until then, just focus on yourself, okay? The guys will be okay. They always are."

I sighed and nodded. "Charlie, you're amazing."

She grinned. "I know."

"Can we try to relax a bit?"

"Sure! I think use a bit of rest. What did you have in mind?"

"Harry Potter marathon?"

Her eyes lit up and her mouth stretched into a face splitting grin. "A woman after my own heart! I knew I loved you!"

I grinned at her and we set off in search of her bags, arm in arm.

"By the way," she said, breaking the heavy silence in the empty lair. "You must _really_ like Sam to have gone through with that."

I furrowed my brow. "What do you mean?"

"A showdown with the King of Hell in last night's clothes? That is the _ultimate_ walk of shame!"

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**Review? Pretty please?**


	11. Chapter 11: Broken Families

**Sorry I wasn't as fast as usual, kind of hit a block.**

**Hopefully I can move past it...**

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- Sam's POV -

"I'm gonna kill her!" Dean growled as we peered through the window of Lisa's house.

I sighed. "Why?"

"She made me freak out and haul ass back here for nothing! They're fine!" He ground his teeth as he watched Lisa bend over the dining room table to help Ben with some homework.

"Dean, _you're_ the one who took it to mean something." He shot me a dark glare. "Look, I'm not blaming you for caring and taking it as a serious threat, that was very wise on your part. But you have to remember, Cas never said anything about Diana being a psychic. There was never a guarantee that what she saw was true. I mean, she said that she'd seen a lot of things. I know Bobby gave her some of Chuck's books. Maybe she just read about them and had nightmares."

Dean ignored me, his jaw locked, glaring through the window at Ben and Lisa. I sighed and tentatively approached his sore spot.

"Dean, are you angry that you were misled or are you frustrated that you can't go in there?"

Rolling his eyes, he turned his back on me and started to walk back towards the car. I glanced back at the source of his heartache, then followed him out of the yard and across the street.

"Dean," I called, stopping him before he got in the car. He turned to me, annoyed.

"What?"

"Why won't you talk to me, man? I know that you miss them. I know that you're hurting. I'm your brother. You can confide in me."

He nearly blew a gasket. "How many times do we have to go through this? I don't wanna talk!" He threw open the door, fell into the driver's seat and slammed it shut again.

I wiped my hands over my face, exasperated. I desperately wanted to help him, to let him know that I was here for him, but he wouldn't let me. I didn't know what more to do. For a moment, I felt the desire to be able to just go to a home and curl up in bed and decide that I would approach it again tomorrow because I would have no reason to believe there wouldn't be a tomorrow. I gave him another minute to cool down before getting in the car again. When I closed the door, he didn't move.

I looked up and, in the fading twilight, I could see tears pricking the corners of my big brother's eyes.

"You're right," he sniffed, trying to hold back the tears and prevent his voice from wavering. "I miss them... God, Sammy, I miss them so much."

He placed the heels of his hands over his eyes, pressing down. When he removed his hands again, he inhaled deeply and blinked out the windshield at the house he used to share with Lisa and Ben. We sat in silence for a moment, before he spoke again.

"I get it, you know," he glanced at me, "how much you want a normal life? I get it... I had it, for a little while. And it was great." The next pause dragged on as memories made his eyes misty again. "But when I tried, they came back for me. The monsters and demons. And I got dragged back into it, kicking and screaming... And Lisa told me she couldn't just sit home and wait for me, worrying that I might not come back this time... And she was right... That's no life... So I left... And _merely_ because I cared for them, their lives were put in jeopardy. _Again_... And now they don't even remember me..." He turned his gaze away from the house, wincing, then brought his eyes back up to me. "This is it for me, Sammy... I'm a shell of a man... And all I have left is hunting..."

"Dean, that's not all-"

He held up a hand, stopping me. "Yes. It is. Because I'm not gonna let this ruin _your_ chance at the life you want. Soon as we get our shit together with this dumbass war between heaven and hell bleeding into our world, you are _done_. You're going to go get a house and a dog and a girl and you're gonna be happy. Got it? I'm talking kids and Little League and so many Christmas dinners and quiet nights with beer, you're going to get fat and old and all that mane of yours is gonna fall out and you're gonna have grandkids and great grandkids and still be having old people sex with your perfect wife because you deserve it, Sammy! And if it's the last thing I do, you're gonna get it!"

I just blinked at him, speechless. He knew I would never leave him, but he wanted so much for me to be happy, he let go of that grudge he'd held since I left for college and had begun to force the picket fence life I wanted, but knew I could never have. There was just no way. But I didn't want to argue anymore, so I just nodded and let him have his way.

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed. "Garth," he barked into the receiver. "Hey, how are you?... Fine... Listen, I need a favor. There's this single mom and her kid that might be in danger and I need you to post someone here to watch them for us while we go deal with something else..." He gave garth the address and thanked him, then hung up and began to head back to the lair.

As we drove down the highway, headlights winking out as people went home to their families, I wondered if Dean would ever get his spirit back. I didn't believe he was a shell of a man. A broken man, sure, but not a shell. I just hoped that someday, something would happen to remind him of who he was and reignite that spark in his eyes that I used to admire and aspire to have when I was a kid. I made a vow to myself, just the latest in probably a thousand like it, to never leave the life unless he came with me. We were all each other had and he wasn't getting rid of me. We'd both made a lot of mistakes and I had let him down, I knew, but he still loved me, and I him. We were family. I would never leave him alone. Ever.

We finally got back late two nights later. Dean seemed pretty normal again, talking about how hungry he was when we pulled up. We stumbled down into the main room and found Charlie sitting alone at the table, hands folded, a smile plastered on her face, and two large plates of food in front of her, waiting for us. We both dove for the food and moaned softly when we took our first bites. After a few moments, Charlie still hadn't said anything.

"You okay, Charlie?" I asked around my mouthful of food. She nodded with that smile still glued to her face. Dean and I exchanged glances, then shrugged and continued eating. When we were finished, we pushed the plates away and sighed, contentedly. Charlie blinked up at us impassively.

"How are you both feeling?" she asked pleasantly.

"Well, I just had some awesome food, so I'm pretty good," Dean smiled. "You make that?"

Charlie shook her head, then moved her gaze to me.

I raised my eyebrows. "I'm okay... What's up with you?"

"Well, I have something to tell you."

"Okay..." Dean and I said in unison, leaning forward suspiciously.

"Diana's gone."

We blinked at her. "She's what?"

"Gone."

"That's what I thought you said." Dean threw his hands up in the air. "What is it with this chick? C'mon, Charlie! You were supposed to be watching her!"

"I was!" she protested, the pleasant facade evaporating from her face. "I've been watching her the whole time! But I'm not a creep, okay? I wasn't following her to the bathroom or anything!"

I exhaled, pinching the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache coming on. "What happened?"

"Well I left the room to go to the bathroom and as I was leaving, I heard her answer her phone. Then when-"

"Her what?" Dean demanded.

"Her cell phone, Dean," I sighed. "She would obviously have one and why would we take it from her?"

"Anyway," Charlie continued, "when I came out of the bathroom, I heard a car. I race outside and she's gone and so is my car."

"When was this?" I groaned, making a mental note to throw Diana in the dungeon. An unwelcome mental image of her in chains and nothing else entered my head and I had to shake it away quickly, lest it continue.

"Yesterday morning."

"Shit," Dean growled. "Do you have any idea where she went?"

Charlie looked offended. "Of course I do! I know how to track a damn cell phone! God!"

"You got an address?" I asked. She nodded. "All right, let's go."

- Diana's POV -

_(The previous morning)_

I was in the library, surrounded by books, laptop open, researching more folk lore, mythology, anything I could find that might help me figure more out about what I was, where I came from, and, most importantly, how to control my power. Thinking back on the bits and pieces I could remember of my black outs and the terrifying experience with Crowley, I figured that intense concentration was key. I was focused on nothing more than channelling and manipulating what was being used against me.

I was concentrating so hard, racking my brain for any specific feelings, other than pain, that I could associate with the reflection thing, I didn't even notice Charlie leave the room. I jumped when something on my thigh buzzed. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I answered without even thinking.

"Hello?"

"Diana? Oh thank god! It's Kara."

I sat up straighter, shocked at hearing from her, concerned as to why. "Kara? Are you all right? You sound upset."

"Diana, I need your help! I've messed up real bad and I have no one to turn to!" she sniffled. "You were alway so good to me. Please, I need you."

"I'm on my way."

I hung up and, without thinking, grabbed the keys on the table and ran.

When I finally reached the address Kara had texted me, I had to take some deep breaths in the car to calm myself down before going in. Inside, I expected my friend sobbing on a second or third-hand couch, buried in a pile of tissues and candy wrappers, possibly physically hurt, possibly pregnant, possibly mentally unstable, definitely a mess. What I found was beyond anything I could have ever imagined.

"Surprise!" rang out several voices when I walked through the door, making my breath stop and my heart race. My eyes wide, I realized that I was surrounded by my foster kids.

"What's going on?" I gasped, still taken aback. Kara giggled and jumped up and down, clapping.

"It's a reunion and an early birthday party!" she squealed, running to squeeze the life out of me.

"You-you guys all came here? For my birthday? Which isn't for another three months?" They all nodded with wide grins. With everything that had happened to me in the last few weeks, I was overwhelmed with gratitude and love for them at that moment. These misfits who were at the foster home with me and helped me when I was at my darkest were coming back again when I was in another scary place, even though they had no clue how much I needed them. My eyes began to fill with tears as the closest thing I had to family enveloped me in a tight group hug and, for a moment, I felt like I had a home again.

For the next 24 hours, I was able to completely forget about the Winchesters, monsters, demons, angels, or ancient powers created by gods. I just spent time with my family. We played games and talked for hours, each of my kiddos sharing their story about how they grew up, whether or not they got adopted before graduating, and where they were now. Even a couple of the babies came, eight and ten when I left them, now thirteen and fifteen. We all dissolved into tears several times and laughed so hard, our abdomens were sore, and everything was wonderful, until they found me.

The door was kicked in with a loud bang. Everyone screamed, several of us jumping to our feet, as Dean, Sam, and Charlie barged in, guns drawn. They froze when they saw us and glanced at each other, confused. Charlie tucked her gun away, pulling out a bottle of holy water and throwing it on all of us. The others yelled again, shocked.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, finally finding my voice.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Dean snapped.

"Diana, you know these people?" one of the guys around my age, Jake, asked, moving in front of some of the others, sneering at the Winchesters.

"Yes, they're my friends," I told him. I glared at the boys. "Put the guns away! They're clean!" The guys slowly, cautiously tucked their guns away.

"Who are they?" Sam asked softly, appraising them all.

"Sam, Dean, Charlie, this is... Well... This is my family..."

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**What do you think? How are the Winchesters and foster kids gonna take to each other?**

**Let me know your thoughts...**


	12. Chapter 12: Hidden Talents

**Special thanks to my anonymous reviewer,**

**you made my day :)**

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- Sam's POV -

Diana was quick to calm her friends down but, even though our guns were put away, Dean and I were still tense, mentally calculating any and every way we could attack and get the girls out as quickly and efficiently as possible. Even while seated on the couch across from the others, being served coffee by Diana and her friend, Kara, I made sure to sit in a way that would ensure easy access to my gun.

"Okay," Diana smiled at us all nervously. "Um, kids, this is Sam, his brother Dean, and our friend Charlie. Charlie's Angels, these are the kids I grew up with in the foster home, Kara, Jake, Grace, Matt, Toby, Josh, and Mandy."

The youngest girl, maybe fourteen or fifteen, rose to her feet to correct Diana. "It's Miranda, now, Dee." She flashed me a smile and said, in her lowest, velvetiest voice, "I'm all grown up now."

Diana shot her a look. "All right, sit down," she ordered. Pointing at me, she said, "Off limits."

Mandy frowned up at her. "Why?" she whined.

"Because he's a dozen years your senior!" Oh shit. She was thirteen.

"So? You always said older guys were hot!" Mandy protested. Diana turned bright pink.

"Shut up and sit down, Mandy," she growled at her. Mandy sighed, and obeyed, shooting me a flirty smile as she went. I wanted to run.

"So, Dee's got dibs on the tall guy, fine," Kara announced, making Diana's face redden further and bringing a little color to my cheeks as well. "What about his brother?"

"Okay, stop!" Diana yelled, glaring down at her friends. "You will stop treating my friends like pieces of meat and be respectful or I will take them and go. You are not horny teenagers, with the exception of Mandy and Josh. Speaking of, Mandy, check yourself. And Josh?" The boy jumped and looked up from gawking at Charlie. "Wrong team, honey."

Charlie smiled. "Sorry. But I'll totally kick your ass on that sometime," she pointed to his T-shirt, displaying the logo of some video game or other. He smirked and nodded, accepting the challenge.

"Great! Bonding! Awesome," Diana smiled at them. "You guys go ahead with that, and while you're doing that, I'm going outside for a few minutes because I'm in trouble, so!" She turned on her heel and walked out the front door, closing the door behind her.

Dean and I glanced at each other. He nodded his head towards the door and offered me a half smile. I patted his knee, asking him to be nice with my eyes, rose and followed Diana outside. As soon as I closed the door behind me, she started rambling a mile a minute.

"I'm so sorry! I know, I know! I shouldn't have left but Kara called me and she said she needed help and she sounded so distressed and I love her like a sister and I wasn't even thinking, I just ran! I'm so sorry, I know I could have gotten hurt or hurt other people, but all I could think about was Kara! She's my family and I love her and I couldn't just leave her when she called me for help and I-"

"Diana!" I called loudly, grabbing her wrists gently, cutting off her voice and flailing hands. "It's okay. I understand. I would've done the same thing."

"You're not upset that I left?" she asked, biting her lip nervously.

"A little, but I know why you did and if I chastised you for it, I'd be a hypocrite. That being said, you've now been exposed to the King of Hell, which is not good. I promise you that we will keep you safe, but you need to realize that the job just got a whole lot harder."

She sighed, looking up at me apologetically. "I know and I'm so, so sorry. Whatever I can do to make it better, please just tell me."

"Just keep studying and working hard. That's all you can do for now. Once you've got it under control, then we'll talk." I released her wrists, reached up and tugged gently on her chin, releasing her lower lip from between her teeth. "Don't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because, then I couldn't do this." I planted a gentle kiss on her lips, but when I pulled back, she was looking up at me, confused. "What?"

"I just... I don't know... I thought... I thought that you might back off... From me..."

"Why would I do that? I thought we had a great night..."

"We did," she assured me, a smile overcoming her. "We definitely did. But, Charlie and I were talking and I know that you've been hurt before and that you've always wanted a normal-"

"Hey," I cut her off. "Life, especially our lives, are insane and unpredictable and likely very, very short. I'd like to spend what I can of it with someone I care about who makes me happy. If I can't have a white picket fence and a rose garden out front, I'll be okay. But I'll be damned if I have to live the rest of my life without being able to take comfort in someone I care about. Someone like you."

She blushed, grinning widely, and pulled me in for another long kiss. I hummed happily against her lips, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her close. When she pulled away, I gave her a gentle squeeze and a smile, then opened the door for her and we stepped back inside.

"What?" Dean was shouting at Kara, Matt, and Toby. "No way! Kansas is an awesome band! I grew up on that!"

"Well, yeah they've got a few good ones," Kara reasoned, but Dean held his hand up to stop her.

"A _few_? Come on!"

Diana grinned up at me and I smiled back. "What?"

"They're getting along!" she bit her lip again, her lips stretching into a face-splitting grin. I laughed at her excitement and planted a kiss in her hair, then followed her over to the group.

"What?" Kara gasped. "Shut up! The Beatles were badass!"

"I mean, they were all right," Dean agreed.

"All right?!" Kara looked away, holding up her hand towards Dean. "I can't even look at you!"

"Rock country, Kara," Diana smirked. "That's what he's into."

"Yeah, fine, but _nothing_ else?" Kara demanded, clearly appalled. "Not even if Diana's singing?"

"What?" I looked down at her. She was looking anywhere except at us. "You sing?"

"Nope."

"Yes she does!" Kara laughed. "And she's pretty good, too!"

"You just don't know when to shut up, do you?" Diana snapped at her friend through a too-sweet smile. Kara folded her arms, satisfied she was forcing Diana to spill. Looking around at us all, she sighed. "Yes, I used to sing. My parents were those parents who wanted me to take a language, play a sport, and be somehow musical. I took Latin, did rock climbing with my father, and sang. But I stopped when they died."

"You used to sing for us," Mandy butt in, sliding next to Kara. "Especially at night when we had nightmares. Remember?"

"Or under your breath," Toby added. Diana groaned.

"I'm not singing for you!"

"Please?" Mandy and Kara sang, batting their lashes. Diana covered her face with her hands.

"I'll sing for you," Dean offered.

"Really?" Kara pounced on it. "You can sing?"

"No," I laughed. "He can't."

"I can sing better than you!" Dean protested.

"Well yes, but that's not hard to accomplish."

"Sing for us!" Toby smiled, picking up an acoustic from behind the couch. "I can pick up anything. Whatcha got in your back pocket?"

Soon enough, Dean was singing a pitchy Bon Jovi song that was only barely recognizable. Still, everyone was grinning ear to ear and applauded wildly when he was finished.

"Boom," Dean smirked at me. I laughed.

"Wanna see what I can do?" Mandy giggled eagerly. We all nodded and she moved to the floor. Within the next three minutes or so, the girl's limbs were all twisted and knotted up in a way that baffled me. She was like a human pretzel. And then she moved from her position on her knees to supporting her crazy, twisted body on her hands.

"That's nice, hun," Charlie smiled. "But can you read minds?"

"What?" Dean laughed. "No way."

Charlie asked him to think of a number and the next thing I knew, there was a talent show happening in the little front room. Grace could draw beautiful portraits in five minutes or less. Matt was like a walking dictionary, the way he could define any word we threw out at him, not to mention recite _The Odyssey_ from memory. Josh knew some magic tricks and Kara prided herself in being able to take down 6 foot men from her 5'2" build.

"What can you do, Sam?" she smiled. I shrugged. "Oh, come on! Everyone can do something!"

"He's a folklore encyclopedia on legs," Dean smirked. "Ask him any question about any creature and he can give you a detailed answer."

"Tell me about Goddess," Charlie motioned towards the kitchen where Diana had disappeared.

"_A_ goddess, you mean?" I corrected her, raising my eyebrows in warning. She blushed at her fumble and nodded. "Um, well, _Artemis_ is a goddess of Greek mythology. She is the daughter of Zeus and the only goddess, aside from Athena, who was allowed to remain unmarried, a privilege granted her because her father, Zeus, had a soft spot for her. Goddess of the moonlight and the hunt, Artemis always carried a silver bow and arrows with her and enjoyed remaining in the woods with the animals she watched over, running free like they did. She was also a source of jealousy for Hera, Zeus' wife, because Artemis and her twin brother, Apollo, were children of Zeus and another woman. Hera being a very jealous and untrusting wife indeed, was always looking for ways to make her step-children suffer and raise her own children above them. However, Artemis disregarded her as harmless, well aware of her influence over her father, and continued to live on without fear of Hera. There are other myths and stories of the goddess, but that is what is generally agreed upon in most sources."

"Cool!" Kara grinned.

"What about vampires?" Mandy asked, biting her lip and grinning. "Or werewolves? Are they all strong and sexy, like Edward and Jacob?"

"No. Actually-" I froze, listening hard. Glancing down at Dean, I could tell he'd heard it too. "Wait here a minute," I told the others, rising with Dean and quietly making our way to the kitchen. Diana wasn't there. We found a back door, leading out to a porch, and saw her standing there with Castiel. We rushed out, closing the door behind us.

"What's going on?" Dean asked in a low voice, so as not to alarm those inside.

"She is not safe here," Cas replied flatly. "You have let her out in the open and now she is being hunted."

"Please," Diana begged him. "You can't let them die. They're everything to me, they're just kids, please!"

"I cannot be held responsible for the casualties that result from your recklessness," Cas replied without emotion.

"What's hunting her?" I demanded, pulling Diana to my side.

"Everything."

"Everything? What do you mean, everything?" Dean growled.

"I mean, the angels, the demons, the vampires, the werewolves, the shape shifters, the fairies, everything. They're all after her."

"But why?"

Castiel's eyes settled on Diana's face. "Because there is a reward being offered by heaven, and hell is quickly outbidding them."

"Cas, help us out here!" Dean barked. "What do we do?"

"Surrender."

We all took a step back. "What? Why would we do that?" I asked, holding her tighter to me.

"Because Sam," Castiel sighed, "despite your belief that your lust for the girl makes you untouchable, you cannot take on all of them. If you allow her to be taken, there will no longer be a hunt and you may then focus on retrieving her."

"And what if they kill her, Cas?" Dean demanded. "Huh?"

"They wouldn't dare, she is too valuable and powerful. Run," Cas ordered. "Run away from here, give her up, then work to get her back. It is your only chance." And with that, he disappeared.

Moving from my side, Diana headed for the door again.

"Go get the car ready, I'll make something up," she said. I grabbed her arm.

"Wait a minute. We're not going to give you up."

"Well, we can't stay here and put them in harm's way," she protested. "We have to go. I don't care where, just far away from here! I won't allow my family to die! Not again." She yanked her arm away and headed back inside.

"I'll get Charlie and we'll grab all the salt they've got here," Dean said. "You just go start the car and rack your brain for any way to cloak us from all the creeps on their way." I glared at the ground and Dean put his hand on my shoulder. "We're gonna keep her safe, all right?" I nodded once and he disappeared back inside.

Just as I was about to follow him, Cas reappeared in front of me.

"Sam, as your friend, I would like to offer you some advice concerning Diana," he said. "Do not fall for her. She is a weapon, that is all. An immortal weapon who will be unable to return any love you grant her and who will soon forget you. Spare yourself the heartache. Get the job done and move on."

And I was alone again.

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**I'm just making this up as I go... Not sure how it's going now...**

**Thoughts?**


	13. Chapter 13: Castiel's Solution

**New readers/reviewers! YAAAAYYY!**

**The reviews really make me happy and motivate me to keep going!**

**If you keep them coming, so will I :D**

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- Diana's POV -

Sitting in the back seat with Charlie, I clutched my birthday present from my kids to my chest. A beautiful leather bound journal filled with letters and memories from my family. Grace included some incredible sketches and Toby even penned some of his poems into it. I chewed my lip nervously as we drove away from them, hoping beyond hope that they would remain safe. I didn't think I could live with myself if they were hurt, or worse, because of me.

Charlie reached out to put a hand on my shoulder. I flinched beneath her touch and moved away.

"It's still sore," I explained.

"Sore?"

"Yeah." I rolled up my sleeve to reveal a new tattoo, matching the boys', on the reddened skin of my shoulder.

"Cool!"

"You got inked?" Dean asked from the driver's seat, peering at me through the rearview mirror. "When?"

"This morning," I replied, rolling my sleeve back down gingerly. "Jake has a parlor back home and when he told me, I asked him to do mine. I got the symbol you guys have, the one to prevent possession."

"Smart girl."

We drove for a while longer in silence. I kept trying to catch Sam's gaze, in the hopes of finding some comfort in his eyes, but he never looked my way. I gave up and turned to Charlie. She seemed to have noticed my disappointment and anxiety and offered me a small smile, reaching out and squeezing my hand. I responded with a weak smile, but held onto her hand as I turned to watch out the window as the miles slipped past.

"Where are we going?" Charlie asked.

"We're taking you home," Sam answered quietly.

"What? No way! Things were just starting to get intense!" she protested.

"Which is why you need to go," Dean agreed. "Sam, Diana, and I are stuck in this mess. You're not. You can go home and be safe. We appreciate your help, we really do, but this is beyond your abilities now and we would just feel a lot better knowing you were out of harm's way."

"But-"

"Charlie," I looked over at her with pleading eyes. "I've become really close with you in the past few days and I can't tell you how much I appreciate your support... But, the boys are right... You need to go home..."

Charlie looked down at her lap, sighed and nodded. I squeezed her hand gently in thanks. She returned the gentle squeeze, then gave Dean her address. We slipped into silence again.

Once we took Charlie home, she gave us each tight hugs and wished us well. We offered her pained smiles, then got in the car and drove off again. After another hour of suffocating silence, I put my earbuds in, laid down on the back seat and closed my eyes. Drowning my thoughts in terribly haunting songs, silent tears slowly fell down my face as I allowed the familiar heartache of missing my mother to overwhelm me and I fell into another restless sleep.

_I was falling down to the waters beneath the bridge, falling through the center of the earth. Searing pain stabbed through my abdomen as I fell endlessly, like Alice down the rabbit hole of hell. Darkness enveloped me, bound me, suffocated me. But, rather than fight and struggle to draw breath where there was no air, to see when there was only pitch black, I embraced the pain, let it wash through me, and allowed myself to finally fall away._

- Sam's POV -

When we finally found a motel far enough away from Charlie, I carried a sleeping Diana into the room and tucked her into the far bed, pausing a moment to gaze down at her and wonder at Cas' words. He seemed to be trying to tell me that she was nothing more than another tool on a shelf and couldn't feel emotion or affection any more than a hammer could. But I couldn't believe it. I had seen the way she looked at the kids from the foster home, the way her eyes shone when she told me about her parents. Her reckless mistakes and rash actions of the past few days were as a result of concern for people she valued and cared for. I couldn't let Cas talk me out of this. I couldn't let him convince me that she didn't feel the way any other person feels, that she was incapable of caring for me the way I cared for her. I had to believe that she could, that she did. I had to believe that I had a shot at having something good with her, something worth keeping. I had to believe that I could love her.

"Sam?" Dean's voice pierced through my thoughts. I looked up to meet his tired eyes. He looked like hell. I'm sure I didn't look much better.

"Yeah?"

"Sammy," Dean sighed. "I don't know what to do."

I returned my gaze to Diana. "I don't either... But we can't just give her up."

"Sam..." He paused for a long moment, then exhaled. "I don't think we have a choice."

My head snapped up again. "What?"

"Look, Sammy, I know that you care about her. She's growing on me, too. But Cas has a point. We can't take on every son of a bitch that's out there. If we let one of them take her, then we just have to worry about the one, instead of all of them."

"Except that they will continue to fight for her, Dean!" I snapped. "She'll just be passed from one captor to the next! I know that Cas thinks she's an all powerful weapon, but she's also a person and people have breaking points. I'm afraid she's nearing hers."

"We can't help that, Sam," Dean sighed. "We can't run forever. This is the only option we've got."

"I promised her I would keep her safe."

"And I get that, I do, but we can only do so much, Sammy."

I looked away from him, down at the sleeping girl in the bed below me. She looked so afraid, even in her sleep, her forehead creased between her eyebrows, and my heart broke for her, knowing all that she had been through and the weight of all that she had had to learn to come to terms and deal with in the past month or so. I just wished I could erase it all for her and send her back to her life before her roommates were attacked, or even before the fire, but I knew that wishing the past would change was a useless waste of time and energy.

"I just don't understand... This can't be the only way..."

"It isn't," came Cas' voice behind me. I whipped around to see him standing beside Dean. "However, I believe you will dislike the alternative far more than this option."

"Alternative?" Dean asked.

"Kill her yourself."

"What?" I felt my jaw drop. "Cas, I thought you were on our side! I thought you wanted to protect her, your precious weapon!"

"I do," Castiel replied simply, "but what you fail to realize is that she has an automatic re-set button that will make her drop from everyone's radar again."

Dean folded his arms, his jaw set. "The immortality clause. Kill Diana here and the power gets a clean slate. New body, new memory, new life, no demonic aftertaste."

"I'm not killing her!" I barked.

"I know," Cas sighed. "That is why I suggested you surrender her. And it is also why I told you to back down from your feelings for her. I told you, Sam, she will never return what you feel for her and she will soon forget you."

"Cas, you can't threaten her like that," Dean growled.

"Why are you so upset? I am protecting her," Castiel protested.

"No, you're killing an innocent girl who has done nothing but work her ass off to help others."

"Dean, you don't understand-"

"No, _you_ don't understand, Cas!" Dean glared at him, his voice raising with his frustration. "You kill her and you kill one of the good guys!"

"That has to happen occasionally, there will always be more," Castiel replied calmly.

"No, Castiel, there won't!" I yelled. "Not if you and the angels keep killing us off instead of helping us out like you should! You don't know that this power thing is going to keep finding good people to live in! What if in it's next life, the person finds out about the power and teams up with Crowley to use it! What then, Cas?"

"We're already being picked off by the monsters, Castiel," Dean huffed. "We don't need the angels speeding up the process."

"You're only shooting yourselves in the foot anyway." I turned away from the angel and my brother, unable to handle the ridiculousness of this conversation. I was pissed that Castiel was, once again, blindly following unreasonable orders from some invisible source that only made our lives harder. It was getting to be really difficult to continue our friendship when he was constantly working against us.

"Sam?" his voice came again.

I gritted my teeth. "What?"

"I'm sorry."

I spun around to yell at him again, but before I could get a word out, he had pressed two fingers to my forehead and sent me tumbling to the floor. As I fell, I caught a glimpse of the angel blade in his hand before everything went black.

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**Again, just making this up as I go...**

**Thoughts?**


	14. Chapter 14: Whispering on her Deathbed

**I was going to post this this morning, but then the website crashed and I lost it but then I found it again this ****evening so I was able to fix and finish it :D**

**Enjoy...**

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- Diana's POV -

My eyes fluttered open and I immediately cried out. I could feel thousands of tiny razor sharp edges slicing into my belly each time I took a breath. Glancing down, keeping as still as possible, my eyes found the source of the pain, the handle of a blade protruding from my abdomen. I gasped, then cried again with the pain. I suddenly realized that my limbs were freezing, but that I was sweating and my whole body was trembling uncontrollably, each small movement allowing the blade to slice more of my flesh. My head swam and I struggled to maintain consciousness as my vision went in and out.

I gingerly grasped the handle of the blade with two shaking hands and tore it out of my body, screaming with the agonizing pain. I had to suppress my sobs as I tried to hold my wound closed with my hands, now soaked with blood. I moaned with the draining effort it took from my ever weakening body. I knew that I would bleed out faster this way, but I would also suffer less damage without the constant threat of the blade continuously shredding my insides with each final breath. Final. Oh God, this was it. I felt salty, blinding tears begin to leak out of the corner of my eyes, down my temples, as I came to the realization that I was dying.

In all of my pain and the strange sensation of cold limbs, but a burning wound, only faces were able to present themselves through the haze that was my fading consciousness. I wanted to see that my kids were happy. They knew that I loved them, I had told them incessantly before we left, in case something like this happened, but I just wanted to know that they were all happy with their lives. I wanted to thank Bobby for all that he's done for me, the boys, and countless others and to express my condolences about his wife. I wanted to thank Charlie for being there for me when I needed a friend, despite having only known her about a week, for helping me to find the courage to go after what I wanted, be it control or a kiss, and for warmly offering all the help she could to me and the boys, but being smart enough to take care of herself. I wanted to see Dean so that I could tell him that, even though he'd initially had trouble trusting me and I frustrated him, I loved him like a brother and I wished him only the best in life, wished for him as much love and happiness as he could possibly find. I wanted to tell him that he should go after Ben and Lisa, despite what had happened in the past, because they all loved each other and would somehow find a way if they tried. I wanted Sam there with me, so that I could kiss him once more, so that I could smile at his beautifully kind hazel-green eyes, but more than anything, so that I could tell him how much he had helped me and how much I wished for that white picket fence life he wanted, with a wife and kids, a happy life that he deserved. I just needed him to know how proud I was of him, how much I appreciated him. How much I loved him.

"You may tell them when they wake," whispered a voice in the back of my head. I furrowed my brow, confused at the familiarity of the voice and slowly rolled my head to the side. Castiel was standing above me, holding the blade I had torn out of myself. "They will wake a few minutes before you die, but no sooner. I apologize for the pain you are in. I wish I could ease it." He disappeared before my eyes, leaving only the sound of heavy fabric flapping in the wind.

It was then that I saw the Winchesters unconscious on the floor. I felt more tears slowly leak out, grieving for the pain they would feel at knowing that Castiel, their friend, had betrayed them in such a way. I resolved to hold on long enough to tell them that it wasn't Cas' fault, that he was only trying to spare them a hopeless and unnecessary fight that would only result in their defeat. But even as I made this decision, it was becoming harder and harder to hold my wound closed and keep my eyes open.

- Sam's POV -

When my eyes opened again, there was a dull ache in my head and I couldn't remember why I was lying on the floor. It suddenly hit me and I jumped to my feet. Dean was sitting beside Diana, who was still lying in bed, holding his hand. I gasped at what I saw beneath their bloody hands. I almost screamed, but instead rushed to her other side.

"Oh God! Oh God, Diana! Oh God, I'm so sorry!"

It took her a moment to focus her eyes on my face, then she smiled weakly.

"Oh, shut up, skyscraper," she croaked softly. "It's not your fault."

I felt burning tears threaten to well up and overwhelm me as I replaced Dean's hands over hers with mine. "Yes it is. I promised you I would keep you safe."

"Sam, please don't," she begged softly, rubbing her thumb across my knuckles slowly. She pulled on my little finger gently and I leaned down closer to her face. She pulled again so that I would get closer, stretching her lips up towards my ear. I lowered it for her and she whispered something, making my heart swell and shatter at the same time. I felt the tears overcome me, rushing down my cheeks like little waterfalls as she whispered to me. I kissed her gently, deeply. I felt helpless in that moment, without any idea as to how to make anything better or how I was ever going to be able to move from that spot. She spoke again when I pulled away.

"Please don't blame yourself, or Castiel," she murmured. "You both had good intentions."

"Good intentions pave the road to hell," I sniffed.

"Oh? Well, then I'll see you there," she smirked. I sniffed and tried to smile for her, but shook my head, remembering the immortality clause. I planted a gentle kiss on her forehead with trembling lips. She squeezed my fingers weakly, her eyelids falling closed.

"Sam," Dean called softly. I tore my eyes away from Diana to see Castiel standing beside Dean. I had to resist the urge to snap his neck.

"I am sorry for your pain," he said. I only glared at him. He pulled out an instrument that looked like a scalpel and approached us. Dean rose from his knees, standing between Castiel and the bed.

"Not so fast, feathers," came another gruff voice. We all looked up to see Crowley standing a few feet away. "That power is mine."

"Get out of here, Crowley," Castiel growled. Crowley rolled his eyes, turning towards me.

"I have a proposition for you, Moose," he smirked. "I'll restore Moosette over there to full health, if you'll protect the power for me until she dies and I can collect it."

"Why would I agree to that?" I snapped. "You'll only kill her again in two days time." Crowley opened his mouth to protest, then smirked and shrugged.

"Sam," Dean whispered.

"I told you to get out of here!" Castiel barked at Crowley, brandishing his angel blade.

"Sam."

"Don't even try, partner," Crowley chuckled darkly.

"Sam."

"We are not partners!" Castiel hissed through gritted teeth.

"Sam!" Dean yelled, finally grabbing my attention. He pointed down behind me and I turned again to Diana, whose eyes and mouth were open wide, a silvery blue light emanating from within her. I removed her hands to find the same light spilling from the wound in her abdomen.

"What's happening?" I demanded. Everyone just stood staring, dumbstruck.

The light from within Diana grew brighter and brighter until it hurt to continue to try to look at her. The light surrounded us all, wrapping around us like silk, seeming to enter our very bodies and course through us like it belonged there, bringing us to new life, as though we had always been on autopilot, never fully awake and alert. Somewhere, I could hear screams, but when they reached my ears, I smiled contentedly, for they sounded sweet to me, like gently lulling music. Finally, the light ebbed and began to pull back until it had retreated completely into Diana and lay dormant once more.

Looking around, Castiel and Crowley were gone and Diana's wound had vanished. Eyes wide, Dean and I exchanged glances, then gasped when Diana's eyes fluttered open again. She tried to sit up, but I forced her back down again. She didn't fight me.

"What happened?" she asked groggily.

"You don't remember?"

"I remember voices arguing, then I submitted to my pain, stopped fighting it, and I saw this light and then the voices stopped. I thought I'd died. But, I can open my eyes again. Is everyone okay?"

"Jesus Christ," Dean laughed, leaning down to kiss her forehead. Diana peered up at him, confused.

"What was that for?" she asked. Dean and I exchanged looks, then laughed again, pulling Diana into our arms and hugging her tightly. "I appreciate the hugs, but I'm still confused."

I took her face in my hands and kissed her deeply, happily. I felt her relax in my arms as I pulled her against me and I grinned at her when our lips parted. She grinned back.

"I'll no longer question it," she smiled. I laughed and kissed her again quickly.

"C'mon," I helped her to her feet. "We need to go."

Dean and I grabbed all of our bags and helped Diana out to the car so we could get on the road again. Packing the trunk and getting Diana settled in the back seat was exhilarating, an extremely strange feeling when I thought about it. We jumped into the car and peeled out of the motel parking lot quickly, headed for the highway. I had never been so excited to be on the run.

"Where did Cas and Crowley go?" Diana asked quietly from her makeshift bed in the back.

"We have no idea," I confessed, grinning goofily back at her. She giggled softly, reaching out to tug gently on a lock of my hair. I kissed her fingers lightly, then glanced up at Dean.

"How are you feeling, shorty?" he asked, glancing at her in the rearview mirror.

"I resent that! Kara is even shorter than me!" Diana protested with a smile. "And much better, thank you. No blades in my gut, no rapidly bleeding wounds, I'm much better. I do think I'm weaker than I'd like to be, but I'm not complaining because there were no stitches or needles involved, which is always a plus."

"Agreed. Much faster."

"I want to apologize," Diana said a few moments later, "for what I said to each of you. It wasn't my place to say some of those things, but I felt that I really wanted you both to know. All of it was true, it just wasn't all appropriate."

"Don't worry," Dean said, their eyes locking in the rearview mirror. "I appreciated it. And, I'd like you to know that I also told you the truth." They shared a private smile before Diana's eyes shifted to meet mine.

"I thoroughly appreciated what you said to me as well," I assured her softly. "And I know that there will be a lot we'll all have to get through, and a lot to talk about, but I'm afraid you won't be able to escape us so easily."

"That's right," Dean chimed in. "Enough of this dying so that you can get away from us crap. You're stuck with us."

Diana grinned. "Okay."

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**What did you guys think? What do you think she told the boys?**


	15. Chapter 15: Dean's Family Returns

**Sorry it's been a while, I've been sick**

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- Sam's POV -

"Diana, are you crazy? You were stabbed to death two days ago!"

She exhaled and turned towards me, unbuttoning her blouse. "Look, Sam, I know that you're worried about me, and I appreciate that, I really do, but I'm okay. Better than that, I've got this." The blouse dropped back from her shoulders and she bent to peel off her jeans. "Just trust me, okay?"

"Diana please," I grabbed her arm and pulled her close to me. "I trust you, but I'm also worried about you. You are high on a hit list and I can't let you go off alone."

"I won't be alone," she assured me. "You and Dean will be there the whole time, I'll have weapons, and I've told you, I've got control now. It isn't easy, but I can do it. Please, you have to let me do this. For Dean."

I dropped her am and looked away, exasperated but out of options. She continued to change and when I looked up again, I raised an eyebrow.

"You look like white trash."

"That's the idea," she smirked, applying a thick layer of lip gloss and pulling her hair down from it's elastic. She stepped into a pair of heels that lifted her at least six inches off the ground.

"Christ! How are you gonna move in those?"

"Just trust me, baby," she laughed and glanced up at me through thick lashes, then walked out of the room, the skintight dress swaying with her hips.

When we got outside, she took a right and I made a left, heading for the car. When I got inside, I punched Dean's arm.

"What!"

"This was _your_ idea!" I growled.

He smirked, pleased with himself. "One of my very best, I'd say."

"She looks like a hooker."

"That's the point!" Dean protested, putting the car in drive and pulling out. "Don't worry, Sammy, she isn't gonna stray on a case. She's crazy about you."

"I'm not worried about that," I folded my arms and leaned back against the leather, making it creak, gazing out my window, watching her strut down the street in those breakneck heels and super tight mini dress.

We tailed her down a few main roads, past a handful of bars. She attracted all the attention she was supposed to and more. She paused on one street corner, batting her lashes at some guy, giggling like a bimbo. I rolled my eyes but continued to watch as she pulled out a compact to reapply her lipgloss. Again. When she was finished, she winked at the guy she was talking to and followed him down an alleyway.

"That's our cue," Dean said, driving down the road farther, turning around three blocks down. We jumped out of the car and began to stroll towards Diana, keeping our hands on our guns.

When we got to the corner, we backed into shadows on the edge, watching them. The guy was backing her up to a wall and she was giggling like an idiot again. My jaw muscles tightened again and I had to resist the urge to snap the guy's neck. I took a step forward, stopped only by Dean's arm against my chest.

"Give her a chance," he whispered.

The guy lowered his lips to her neck, then suddenly stepped back and doubled over in pain. He groaned, then growled, fangs bared and lunged at Diana. She landed a high kick on his jaw, sending him to the pavement.

"Sorry," she snapped. "I don't like it when my guys can't take a hit."

Dean snorted as she kicked him in the ribs. The vamp hissed up at her and she sent the toe of her stiletto into his mouth.

"Tell me where they are!" she demanded. He spit out some fangs and hissed something up at her. She pulled a knife from somewhere up her dress and started detaching fingers. He screamed, then hissed again. She took off his whole hand. "Tell me!"

"Holy shit," Dean laughed under his breath.

Finally, she produced a needle and injected him with dead man's blood. He fell still beneath her and she tucked the knife and syringe away again.

"Guys?" she called out for us. We jogged over to her.

"That was awesome!" Dean laughed, high fiving her. "But how did you keep him down so easily?"

"I had the strength of two men and a monster to use against him," she smiled. "I channelled yours."

"Holy shit!" Dean laughed.

"Are you all right?" I asked, spinning her around, looking for any injuries or bite marks.

"I'm fine, Sam," she smiled, framing my face with her hands. She planted a chaste kiss on my lips. "I promise." I nodded and kissed her forehead.

"All right," she said, turning to Dean. "Let's go get 'em."

Dean's face fell again at the mention of the victims. Diana touched his arm.

"We'll find them, Dean. I promise."

When we finally got to the address the vamp had given Diana, she wanted to use the power again.

"Are you nuts?" I glared at her. "You're exhausted!"

"I'm exhilarated!" she protested. "I'm finally helping people, Sam! And this is important! To Dean! I'm going!" She got out of the car quietly and stood by for a few moments. She yelped in pain suddenly, cradling her jaw, then stood up straight again and stalked towards the giant old mansion.

"She's going to hurt herself," I growled.

"Sam, it's our best shot." Dean looked up at me with tired, worried eyes. "Please, just let her try."

I exhaled and nodded, then followed him out and around to the back door. We snuck in without drawing any attention to ourselves, unusual but not unwelcome. Machetes drawn, we crept through the kitchen, across the hall, and into the library. We took a quick sweep of the room, but just as we were about to turn back, the back of my head seemed to explode in pain and the floor raced up to meet me.

When I opened my eyes again, my head throbbed and a low groan escaped my throat.

"Sam?" came Dean's weak voice. I lifted my head toward the sound, but there was only darkness. "Sam?"

"Yeah, Dean, I'm here," I croaked.

"Dean?" came a soft voice from across the room. "Dean, is that you?"

"Lisa?" Dean's voice cracked. I heard a sob and then Lisa spoke again.

"Oh, Dean, I remember everything," she cried. "Dean, they have Ben!"

"I know," Dean said. "But we're gonna get him back, I promise. We've got someone looking for him right now."

"Lisa, I promise, we're gonna get you both out of here," I pledged to the darkness.

Suddenly, I heard the screech of metal and the grunts of two people hitting the ground around us.

"Are you okay?" Diana's voice asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay," came another.

"Ben?" Lisa called.

"Mom?"

"Oh, Ben!" She started to sob again as feet shuffled across the floor and chains rattled. Someone hit the floor again and groaned. I felt hands suddenly on my stomach.

"I've got you," Diana told me softly as her hands traveled up my sides, searching for my binds. When she finally found the metal cuffs holding me to the wall, she wrapped her hands around them and snapped them open, one at a time.

"Jesus Christ," I whispered.

"Hi, Sam." I could feel her smile by my ankle as she snapped the last shackle. I tumbled to the floor, grunting as I hit the stone. "Ouch. You guys okay?"

"Fine," I groaned as Dean flicked open his lighter, casting a faint glow around his fist. I felt around my waist and found my flashlight. "I've got a torch, Dean." I clicked it on and shined it on him. He nodded at me and then knelt down, feeling around for his. Finding it, he clicked it on, shining it at Diana, who was soaked in blood.

"Jesus! What happened?"

"I ripped a few throats out and they got mad."

"You're crazy," I shook my head at her.

"I'm aware," she said, moving towards a shivering Lisa to snap her binds.

"Why did they let you down here without chaining you up?" Dean asked, checking Ben for serious injuries while I turned to search for a way out.

"I think they figured I'd eat you," Diana replied, helping Lisa to her feet. "Don't worry, we're gonna take care of you."

"Where's my son?" Lisa demanded.

"Right here," Dean called. "I've got him, Lisa. He's fine."

"Hey guys, I found a door," I called out. I shined my light towards them to find Lisa clutching Ben, Dean's arms wrapped around them. Diana appeared at my side and whispered in my ear.

"Crowley was here. He removed Cas's memory block so that he could use them against Dean. We found them before he expected. We need to get them far away, but they can't go home."

I nodded and motioned for Dean to follow us quickly. He started to shepherd Lisa and Ben towards us, but Lisa cried out and fell back into his arms. He scooped her up and nodded for Ben to follow us. We slipped up through what I took to be the servants' staircase and, after motioning for the others to wait for us, Diana and I glanced around the hallway.

"There's four left," she informed me quietly. "They'll be on their way down now. I figure we take 'em out and run. They'll likely come two at a time from each end of the hallway, mere seconds apart. You run at them swinging the machete, I'll slide up behind any that I can with the dead man's blood. If that's not possible, ditch the needles and start slicing, yes?"

"Gold star, Miss McKnight," I smirked down at her. She grinned up at me, the slid behind my back, completely hidden behind my frame. Just as she'd predicted, two vamps came charging down the hall on my right, and seconds later, another two on my left. I swung at them, slicing one's arm as Diana dove between my legs and stuck another two with needles in their ankles. The first one pulled me into a fight as the last yanked Diana up by her hair. I finally whacked the head off the first and when I turned around, Diana had tackled the other to the ground and dug the heel of her shoe into it's throat. She dragged it through with a grunt, decapitating the vamp and splattering blood all over herself.

"And that," she gasped, "is what high heels are for."

I pulled her up by her arm, then opened the door to the servant's stairs and beckoned Dean and Ben through. We all ran out to the car, but just as Dean was about to slide into the back seat with Lisa, Diana stopped him.

"I have to stay with her!"

"Whoa! Calm down! Who's the nurse here?" Diana asked, pushing him out of the way and climbing in beside Lisa. Dean's jaw clenched and he jumped into the passenger's seat as Ben got in on the other side of his mom and I jumped behind the wheel.

"What's wrong with her?" Dean asked as we flew down the road.

"She seems to have suffered some deep gashes but not as much blood loss as there could have been, but she'll need stitches."

"Sam, get us to a hospital now!" Dean barked at me.

"No, that's not necessary," Diana assured him gently. "If you can get me a needle and some thread, I can do it."

"There should be some in the trunk," I told Dean, pulling over. He raced out to the trunk, grabbed a kit and bottle of hard liquor, then ran back.

"If you need more room, we can pull the seats down," he said, handing Diana the equipment.

"No, we have to keep moving. I'm a target, and so are they," Diana said, organizing the kit and handing it to Ben. "I need you to help me to help your mom, okay?" He nodded. "Great." She tore the hem of Lisa's skirt, wrapped it around her knuckles, then slid it off her hand and put it in Lisa's mouth. "Bite down, hon, this is going to hurt." Lisa whimpered and Diana grabbed the liquor, pouring it over each of her wounds as Lisa screamed. Diana handed the bottle back to Ben and asked for the needle and thread, then looked up at Dean and I. "Why aren't we moving?" she barked. "You said so yourselves, we're on a hit list! Let's go!"

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	16. Chapter 16: Super Girl

**It's a long one this time.**

**Hope you enjoy it...**

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- Diana's POV -

Using all of the strength and adrenaline I could channel from the others, I stabilized and patched Lisa up as gently as I could. When I had finished the stitches, I wrapped her newly closed wounds with the gauze I could find in the kit and gave her a few over the counter painkillers I had in my bag. She fell into a restless sleep, her head nestled on her son's lap.

We drove straight through the night and late into the next afternoon, finally stopping at a motel at least four, maybe five states away. Dean carried Lisa into the room and gently tucked her into bed, positioning the pillows and blankets how she liked them, then sitting down in a chair beside her bed, Ben on her other side. She began to stir not too long after we brought everything in and when Dean glanced up at us, then at the door, Sam nodded and gently guided me out.

Closing the door behind us, he turned to me, "We need to talk."

"Okay."

He sat down on the bench beneath the window of our room and motioned for me to sit beside him. I did so reluctantly, still feeling energized and fidgety from the adrenaline rush.

"Diana, you need to slow down with this whole power thing."

"Why? I'm helping people. I'm doing good. That's what I've always wanted to do. It's what you told me I could do. You said as soon as I could control my power, I could use it to help people."

"Yes," he sighed, "but you need to slow down. Take a break. Using that kind of power is exhausting, I know."

"I'm not tired, Sam," I rolled my eyes. "I'm so energetic all the time since I've started using it! Ever since Cas stabbed me, I get it! I know how to control the power and channel other people's strength and heal myself! I'm virtually invincible!"

"You see? That's what I'm talking about, Diana! You think you're indestructible but you're not! You're getting cocky and one of these days you're going to slip up!"

I glared at him. How dare he! "So, what are you saying? That I'm not good enough now? That I can't get the job done right?"

"No, of course not, it's just-"

"Oh I see. You're jealous!" He looked at me as if he hadn't any idea what I was talking about. Oh please! "You're jealous because you weren't allowed to keep your super demon powers and now I'm more powerful than you and you can't handle it!"

"No, Diana, that's not-"

"Oh, come on! Admit it! I'm a better hunter than you now and you're pissed!"

His jaw dropped. "What?"

"Ugh! I should've known this would happen!" I stood from the bench and clenched my fists, feeling my anger at his petty envy boil through my veins. "You are so ridiculous, you know that? You can't even handle being second best! You're throwing a hissy fit because you feel cheated because I was made for fighting and I'm naturally better than you are! Sam, you really need to grow up!"

He stood as well, his eyes blazing. "That's bullshit! That is complete bullshit, Diana, and you know it!"

"No, it's not," I growled. "That's why you're being so defensive but you don't have an argument!"

"You think you're such a great hunter?" Sam snapped. "Then why are you here? Why do you need us? We're just holding you back, aren't we?"

"I'm here because I care about you, you asshole!" I gasped, shocked that he'd ever doubt that.

"No, _we_ care about _you_, Diana!" he yelled, jabbing his finger at me. "That's why we've been following up behind you and making sure you didn't get hurt! We let you take the lead so that you would feel like you were doing well and helping! Really, you've just been stumbling along while Dean and I cleaned up your messes! Since you woke up healed, you've been progressively becoming more and more obsessed with the hunt and using your great new power and been a downright bitch to us!"

I gasped again and slapped him hard across the face. He returned his glare to me.

"Does that make you feel better?" he barked. "Does your corrupted mind paint me as the bad guy now, so your hitting me is making you feel better?"

"Stop it!" I yelled, tears welling up and threatening to blur my vision. "Shut up! That's not true!"

"Isn't it? Isn't it true that you feel oppressed by us? That you can't reach your full potential because we're holding you back? Isn't it true that you think we're the bad guys because we don't want you using your power too much? My feelings for you are suffocating you, aren't they? My worry and care is driving you up the wall because you wish I would just leave you alone to play with the monsters and demons like little dolls because you are so powerful that nothing can hurt you! We're not groveling at your feet and that pisses you off, doesn't it! Doesn't it!"

"Stop it!" I screamed, shoving him back into the door. "You're twisting the situation, you son of a bitch! You're making it seem like I don't care, but I do! I care so much I put myself on the line for you and Dean! I just saved Lisa and Ben! I saved them from a vampire nest then stitched and dressed Lisa's wounds! I've spent the past two days going after monsters and saving people because you wanted to! I should be hiding or going after Crowley, but I'm not because you want to save civilians! I'm number one on heaven and hell's most wanted list and I'm out in public, drawing attention to myself for you! Don't tell me I don't care, you ungrateful bastard!"

"Do you hear yourself?" he groaned. "_You_ saved Lisa and Ben! _You_ are putting yourself on the line! _You_ are most wanted! You, you, you, you, you, you, you! Not everything is about you, Diana!"

"I know it's not! Stop turning this around on me! I'm doing this out of selfless concern for you and your brother!"

"No! That's just what you tell yourself in your corrupted mindset to make you feel better about yourself! But it's bullshit!"

I threw my hands up in the air, the tears finally blinding me. "You're impossible!" I screamed, then started to stomp away.

"Where are you going?" he demanded, grabbing my arm. I wrenched it out of his grip.

"Away from you!" I yelled back, then turned on my heel and continued to march away.

"Fine!" he called after me. "But don't come crying to me when the demons in the shadows catch up to you!"

I ran away, devastated. I was heartbroken at finding that Sam's feelings for me were not what I thought they were.

_Of course he didn't care about you that way_, snapped a voice in my head. _He's a selfish bastard. But you, you're special. You're powerful. You can help people. All you have to do is ditch Sam and Dean._

Could I really do that? I mean, after all they'd done for me, could I really just leave them alone?

_Why not? They left you alone. All they ever did was tell you to wait until you could control your power, and now that you can, they're so afraid of it, of you, that they're oppressing you, trying to suffocate your dreams and potential. They don't want you to help people, but you must. You know you must._

As I was walking through the streets of the nearest town that night, I found myself witness to a mugging. A burly man was chasing a young woman down a back road, snatching at her purse and skirt. When he finally caught her, he yanked her purse away from her, tossed it on the ground, and shoved her up against a wall, sliding his hand up her skirt.

_Look at that pathetic piece of shit_, whispered the voice. _He's going to rob and take advantage of that girl for no reason other than he's a selfish bastard. Fight, Diana. Fight for justice, just the way you were created to, just the way your father always told you to. Give that man what he deserves._

As I approached them, I began to channel the burly man's strength and my hand swiftly found the handle of my knife.

- Dean's POV -

Sam stormed back into the room, jaw set, eyes flaring.

"I'm taking the car," he grumbled, then grabbed the keys and slammed the door behind him.

"I'll be right back," I told Lisa and Ben, then ran out after my brother. "Hey!" I called as I caught up with him in the parking lot. "We heard the yelling. What's going on? You guys have a fight?"

"Yeah," he growled, opening the door. I stopped him before he could get in and drive off.

"Whoa, hold on a second. What happened? Talk to me?"

"Nothing, Dean!" he snapped. "We fought, she stormed off! I have to take a drive to clear my head, then go find her and drag her back by her hair, all right? Is that okay with you, Dean?"

I held my hands up in surrender. "Whoa, chill, man, I'm just making sure you're okay. You guys've never fought so bad. What's goin' on?"

"Just don't worry about it!" he slammed the door shut and turned the key, rousing the engine loudly. "Go back inside with Lisa and Ben! I'll be back later."

He drove off quickly, leaving me in the dust. I walked back into the motel room to find Ben making sandwiches and Lisa sitting up in bed, knotting and unknotting her fingers.

"Hey," I smiled softly at her. "How you feeling?"

"A little sore, a little tired, mostly confused." She sighed, then met my gaze. "Dean, why did you make us forget you?"

I exhaled and returned to my chair at her bedside. "I thought it would make you happier. You wouldn't have to worry about all the monsters under the bed that I told you were there and you wouldn't have to worry about me. You wouldn't have to wait up at night, praying that I walk in the door unharmed. You wouldn't have to worry every time I left you that it was the last time you'd ever see me. I thought it would make life a little easier for you."

"Dean, I worry about you because I care. Because I love you. We both do."

My eyes shifted from her to Ben and back again. I swallowed the growing lump in my throat. "I love you both too. That's why I asked my friend, Cas, to make you forget me. Because loving someone like me only causes pain, heartache, and death. I couldn't let that happen to you and Ben."

"Dean," Ben said from across the room. "You've been like a dad to me. You've been so good to my mom. We love you. And you love us. How could you just leave?"

My heart broke for him, then shattered further when Lisa's eyes met mine. "I didn't want to, I swear. I love you both so much. You're my family."

"Family doesn't walk out on each other!" Ben snapped. Tears began to fill my eyes.

"I know... And I'm so sorry... I was just trying to protect you... Can you ever forgive me?"

"Come back with us."

"Ben!" Lisa shot him a look that asked him to back off and be quiet. She returned her gaze to me. "Dean, I know that I told you that I couldn't handle worrying about you all the time and that it wasn't fair of you to expect us to wait for you while you went off and risked your life."

"And you were right."

"Yes," she nodded. "I was. And I am. I still feel that way, Dean. I want you to make a decision before we go. I want you to decide whether or not you can leave all this behind for us. If you can quit hunting again and come back to live with us, we will welcome you with open arms. But if you can't, we need to cut you out of our lives. Completely and permanently. Okay?"

I hung my head, staring down at my hands, folded in my lap. When I looked up again, I nodded, then stood, went into the bathroom, and shut the door.

- Sam's POV -

I drove and drove down winding back roads and finally stopped by a local lake. I got out of the car and sat back against the hood, watching all the families play in the water and then picnic on their blankets as the sun went down. I exhaled, dropping my head back to stare up at the stars, seeking for answers or something that might make me feel better. When they proved unhelpful, I sighed again and stood, preparing to go back, but came nose to nose with Cas.

"Jesus!" I jumped. "Cas! What the hell are you doing!"

"Looking for Diana," he replied. "I thought she would be with you, considering your lack of sense."

I shot him a glare. "Well, she's not."

"Where is she?"

"Why would I tell you? You want to hurt her! Why would I- Wait a minute, why can't you find her yourself?"

"As her power grows stronger, my ability to sense her weakens. Control must be increasing." He stared around us as though Diana might appear from the trees at his will.

I rolled my eyes, leaning back against the car again. "Yeah she's getting pretty good at controlling it."

Cas furrowed his brow at me. "What? No, I meant that the power's control over _her_ must be increasing."

I stood up straight. "What? What do you mean by that?"

Cas looked at me as if I was stupid. "I mean what I said, the power's control over her is increasing."

"But what do you mean that the power is controlling her?" I asked frantically, my mind racing.

"The power, once exorcised, will naturally want to continue to grow and be in use. If the body is not complying, it will infiltrate and, eventually, overtake the mind to control as it pleases. While a human soul is the only vessel strong enough to contain the power, the human mind is no match for the activated power. She will be quickly overcome by the seductive strength and control she feels as it uses her."

"Well, what's it gonna do?" I demanded.

"Whatever it is she wants."

"What?" I asked, confused. "You said it was going to control her!"

"Yes, it will feed off her desires. Whatever it is she would want to use the power for, it will turn around on her and likely magnetize it. You're her... Whatever it is you are. What are her desires? And, no, I don't want to know her sexual desires."

I slapped a hand over my face and groaned. "Cas, you're a real piece of work, you know that?" He cocked his head to the side, eyebrows drawn together. "Never mind," I sighed. "Um, she wants to help people. Make people happy. Protect them. That couldn't go badly, could it?"

"It depends on what she finds," Cas shrugged, "and how powerful she's becoming. For example, if it is still weak and she runs into a robbery, she might return what was stolen and send the criminal on his way. If it is strong and she runs into a child who stole a penny from his mother's purse..."

"What, Cas?" I shouted.

"Well, she might kill him."

"What!"

Cas sighed. "Do you see why I need to kill her now?"

"Cas! Just shut up, all right!" I yanked the door open and fell into the driver's seat, turning the key and bringing the car roaring to life.

"Sam! You must take me with you," Cas ordered.

"Like hell I will," I growled, slamming the door and racing away.

As I flew back down the dirt roads, rocks clanging against the metal belly of the Impala, turning so sharply round each corner, I thought I might flip over at any moment, but I just couldn't care. My mind was racing, my heart was pounding, and all I could think about was what I would do if Diana was destroyed and the last thing I'd said to her was that she could never come to me again. I had lost far too many people, made far too many mistakes, suffered far to much loss to lose her now after having built up more hope and happiness than I had felt in a long time. I'd almost lost her two days ago and, when she whispered in my ear, I knew that I would never feel the way I'd felt with her ever again. Of all the times that I had felt love, it seemed now that I had never truly loved or been loved. I'd almost married Jessica, I loved her so much, but even that couldn't compare to all that I felt now. And knowing what I felt, really realizing all that it meant to me, now more than ever, I couldn't bear to think of Diana so hurt by anything that she might have done under the influence of the power she was harboring, let alone what she might suffer if Crowley or the angels got their hands on her. Despite what we'd said earlier, despite the way she had acted in the past few days, I knew that I loved her and that I would do anything for her. I couldn't break my promise. I couldn't leave her alone in this. I promised I would protect her and, if it was the last thing I did, I was going to own up to that promise.

I was so consumed by my thoughts of Diana, loss, love, and promises that I barely noticed the woman until I was seconds away from hitting her. I slammed on the breaks and the car screeched in protest, skidding to a stop just in front of her. Breathing heavily, my heart pounding, I stared with wide eyes at the woman standing inches away from the hood. She was tall and lean, her limbs long, her flexed muscles outlined by her skintight leather armor that covered her body, neck to toe. Her long dark hair was pulled back from her face, giving her a practical and elegant appearance. Her skin was flawless, her dark eyes like a hawk's gazing down at me hungrily. A silver bow and quiver of arrows that appeared to be made of pure moonlight were strapped to her back. Her perfect lips stretched into a slow, sultry smirk and her voice reached my ears in a low, silky tone, as though she were sitting right next to me.

"Hello, Sam."

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**Brownie points if you can guess who the mystery woman is (it's not really that hard)**

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	17. Chapter 17: Captured By A God

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- Dean's POV -

I'd promised Lisa that I would think seriously about whether or not I could give up hunting for them, and I was, but it was getting harder as the night wore on because neither Sam nor Diana had come back to the motel. I asked the lady at the desk if she had seen either of them, describing them each to her, in case they had come back to another room, but she hadn't seen them.

After the sky had begun to lighten again, I decided to go look for them. I threw my jacket over my shoulders and left a note for Lisa and Ben letting them know that I'd be back by the end of the night, and that if I wasn't, they should take what weapons I'd left and run. I walked out of the room with a glare and determination in my stride, but as soon as I got out to the parking lot, I groaned. Sam had taken the car.

Grumbling, I was about to stalk off in the direction of town when I heard the flap of a heavy coat in the wind. Rolling my eyes, I turned to fas Cas.

"What do you want, Cas?"

"Where are Sam and Diana?" he demanded.

"I don't know. I'm about to go look for them. Why can't you sense them?"

"The power shields Diana from me, but I could sense Sam last evening, then he disappeared as well. I cannot find him."

"What!" I shouted, snatching the collar of his trench coat and yanking him closer. "What do you mean you can't find him! Where's my brother!"

"I'm here, Dean."

I whipped around to find an exhausted looking Sam standing behind me.

"Sam! Where've you been!" I demanded, dropping Cas and charging towards him. "I've been worried! Where's my car!"

"It's on a back road by a lake about four miles that way," Sam replied softly, motioning in its direction. He kept his head down and my eyebrows drew together in concern.

"Sammy? What's going on?"

"I'm here to get you, Dean," he sighed. "We're being held prisoner."

"What? By who?" I groaned. "Did you get yourself into something with Crowley? Or one of his crossroads bitches? C'mon, Sam, we've talked about this! We don't do that shit anymore!"

"No, Dean, this has nothing to do with hell. And I didn't enter this willingly." Sam flinched at something, like I'd just poked his bruised ribs.

"What the hell, Sam? Just tell me!"

"It's a god, isn't it?" Cas piped up from behind me.

I glanced back at him. "A what?"

"A god," he repeated. "I told you. _Everything_ is after Diana. If I can't sense her, it's likely that others are unable as well. And the best way to get to her, is through you two. A god has captured Sam and, to humiliate you both, has sent him to bring you back in chains."

"And you think I'm gonna go willingly?" I asked gruffly. "You're gonna have to hit me with your best shot, little brother, 'cause I'm not letting you put me in shackles." I folded my arms.

"That's okay," Sam sighed. "She likes us to use collars."

"_She_?" I spat. "Great, I'm being sold into sex slavery to some entitled bitch with a human fetish." Sam didn't say anything, just kept his head down. I groaned. "Oh, gross."

"How fascinating," Cas mused. "What kind of god is she?" I glared at him. "What?"

"This is not fascinating," I snapped. "It sucks." I turned back to Sam. "Okay, fine. I come with you to the bitch's chamber. Then, what? What's the plan?" He didn't answer me. "Sam. What's the plan?" He didn't even lift his head. "You don't have one, do you?" I exhaled, running my hand over my face. "Jesus, Sammy, you're really slacking. This is some major trouble we're in now!"

"Dean, don't you think I know that!" he suddenly exploded at me. "Lisa and Ben are helpless, Diana's in way over her head with every monster in the world hot on her tail and I've gotten myself and my only family left into captivity so we have to sit by and watch the people we love die! I know that we're in trouble, Dean! I know it's my fault! I know! But there's nothing we can do about it right now so just shut up and follow me!"

He turned on his heel and stalked away. I glanced at Cas who raised his eyebrows, then disappeared. Exhaling, I threw one last look at the door behind which slept the two kindest people I had ever met, who had given me true happiness for a blissful time, short as it may have been. Then, I lifted my head, set a scowl on my face and marched after my little brother into the dungeon of a god.

- Diana's POV -

I ducked down another dark street behind the tall, crumbling buildings of the southern part of town. I rapped my bloody knuckles on a slab of plywood placed over a hole in a wall as a door. When a tall, lanky kid peered around it and saw me, he stepped outside, a toddler in his arms. I took the kid, setting her on my hip, then shoved a basket at him and stuffed his pockets. He peered up at me with big, wet eyes, clutching the basket to his chest. He turned to drop it inside the door then took the child back and dropped a kiss on my cheek before scurrying back inside.

Keeping my eyes everywhere, I headed back out to the main streets, keeping my eyes open for trouble. Most people stayed out of my way. Sometimes I was approached and made offers that I had to refuse. Whenever I caught a whiff of leather or saw a tall, imposing, brick wall of a man walking down the street, my mind wandered back to Sam and Dean. I wondered where they were and how much time had passed since I'd last seen them. I wondered if Sam was still mad at me, but then quickly turned my thoughts to how selfish and manipulating he had been. I was pissed at myself for letting him use me and would then follow the man that triggered his memory and wait for him to prove himself just as selfish.

I saved a lot of people and punished those who were making their lives hell. Pimps, dealers, violent addicts, burglars, arsonists, rapists, various abusers. It felt so good when their evil left the world. I felt powerful and finally in control of my own destiny. After all that I had been through, in this life and those before, I was finally the one calling the shots. Not my creators, not the Fates, me. I was making my own way through the world, deciding my own destiny, and it was the most satisfaction I had ever felt. In addition to the control I had, it was getting easier and easier to tap into the strengths and skills of others and, even beyond that, I was beginning to really enjoy it.

As I walked down the street, someone jostled me to the side.

"Watch it," I snapped. The panicky lady turned to me with wide eyes, then seized my shoulders, a boy following close behind. It wasn't until she had come up right next to my face that I realized it was Lisa.

"Oh thank God!" she gasped. "You have to help them! Please!"

"Help who? What are you talking about?"

"Sam and Dean!"

I felt my entire being darken at the mention of their names. "What about them?" I hissed.

"The man in the trench coat told me that I had to find you! That you were the only one who could save them!"

"Save them from what!" I demanded.

"God."

- Sam's POV -

I was sprawled across the bed, each of my wrists and ankles bound to a bed post, groaning as her hands pressed into my invisible wounds.

"Keep still," she snapped, "or the healing won't work. It's not exactly my usual style to repair, you should consider yourself lucky."

"Yeah, I feel like the luckiest man alive," I spat. She rolled her dark eyes at me and pressed down harder, then let up on the pressure.

"What is it about you, Sam Winchester, that attracts such negative attention?" she mused, stroking my cheek with the back of her armored leather glove.

"Just lucky I guess," I growled. She smirked and grabbed a fistful of my hair, yanking my head back. I arched my back, crying out in pain.

"Wow," she chuckled. "You're so responsive. No wonder she was drawn to you. Hell, with you and your brother here, and all this free time, you might even turn _me_."

"To men?" Dean snapped from his binds in the room across the hall.

"No, you entitled ass," she smirked over at him. "To pleasures of the flesh."

"You're a virgin?" he laughed.

"You are poor with your mythology, I see." She flicked her wrist and the door slammed shut. Turning her eyes back to me, she purred, "I hate it when my private conversations are interrupted, don't you?" I didn't answer.

She smacked my cheek with the armored glove before moving away from my side to crouch down by her bow and quiver in the corner. I felt her smooth smile glide onto her face from across the room. She stood once more, strapping her bow and quiver onto her back and held out my collar.

"Time to go, Rapunzel."

She led us by our silver collars to a cold, damp stone room. We were forced to walk stooped, no more than a foot behind her, as she always attached the collars by a chain to the belt around her waist. Neither our feet nor hands were bound in any way because she had the ability to enter our minds and inflict immediate pain, real or otherwise, and she often knew our thoughts before they finished manifesting. We were at her mercy. Cooperation was our only choice, and she was well aware of it. She would often tell us that she did not feel threatened by us and that we would be freed once we had served our purpose, which she never explained, not that it needed to be. She would say that we didn't have to like her or enjoy our captivity, only that we had to cooperate.

"You are very creative, Dean," she told him as she led us into the room, "I'll give you that."

"Thanks," he responded as proudly as he could. She glanced over her other shoulder at me.

"Sam, _your_ thoughts are unlike any I've ever read. Somewhat fascinating. If could, I might keep you around just to try to figure out how you tick." I didn't respond.

"What do you mean if you _could_?" Dean asked. "You're a god. Why can't you?"

"Because I gave you both my word that I would free you once you had served your purpose," she explained. "Olympians never go back on their words, unlike _some_ gods." She unfastened our chains from her hips. "You may make yourself as comfortable as you can in this space, but stay close."

We backed up to a comfortable distance, testing the privilege, then Dean walked the perimeter of the room, inspecting our surroundings. As he walked out of earshot, she spoke to me again.

"You know, Sam, as happy as you may think you are loving a vessel, the angel is right. It will only result in your mutual destruction."

I raised my head for the first time and looked her in the eyes.

"You all need to stop telling me who I am and am not going to love. It's not your decision. I love Diana. That's all there is to it. Your opinions are irrelevant."

She sighed, folding her arms. "Aphrodite would get a kick out of you." I turned my back on her as Dean returned to us. We felt her eyes on our backs, like she was inspecting us. I felt Dean's temper wearing down as we stood there. Just as he was about to say something, the door swung open with a bang and we all whipped around.

"Pardon me," Diana barked, standing with her hands on her hips. "But I believe you have something of mine."

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	18. Chapter 18: Artemis vs Diana

**Wow! Thanks for the quick feedback! It really motivates me!**

**It's kinda short, but I hope you'll still be happy with it...**

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- Sam's POV -

The slow smile spread across her face. "Well, well, well. Look who decided to show. I apologize, I was under the impression that you had abandoned these two."

Diana folded her arms under her breasts, scowling at us. "They broke a promise to me. I got upset. You know how men are." She cocked her head to the side with a self-satisfied smirk. "Oh, that's right, _you_ don't, do you, Artemis?"

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "If you were hoping that's going to ruffle me, you shall be disappointed." She glanced at me, her smile growing, before sliding her gaze back to Diana. "So, introduce me to your new vessel."

"My name is Diana," she smiled sweetly. "I am worshipped as a goddess."

Artemis' laugh was deep and harsh. "Is that so? By whom?"

"Yes. By the civilization that is referred to as the greatest that this world has ever seen."

"And what kind of goddess are you, Diana?"

The slow smile now reached Diana's lips. "Why, I'm the new and improved version of you, Artemis." Artemis' smile shrank the tiniest bit, but Diana noticed. "That's right. They think I'm better than you. You who so rudely rejected their most valuable gifts to offer up, their bodies, hearts, and souls. They worship Diana as the Greeks worshipped you, but paint me as more valiant, braver, stronger, smarter, and more beautiful and devoted. You were the cold refuge who hid amongst the animals. I am the powerful guide and protector to hunters. You were the whiny Daddy's girl who cried until she turned purple so that you wouldn't have to get married. I am the independent one, so powerful that the King believed chaining me to a man would only suffocate my spirit."

Artemis rolled her eyes. "Enough. Your narcissistic narration bores me."

"But you see, that's what I nor anyone else cannot stand about you and the Olympians," Diana glared at her with disgust. "You are all so petty and jealous of each other and humans, using your powers to hurt people because you wish you were like them! You are all so childish! It's annoying!"

Artemis' eyes flashed and she balled her fists. "Then why have you come here," she hissed though her teeth. "If you are so much better than I, why bother wasting your time with me?"

"Because you have my boys," Diana motioned to us.

"You consider them your property?" Artemis threw her head back with laughter. "They do not."

"I consider them my family," Diana replied and I felt my whole spirit lift.

Artemis smirked at me. "Easy, there, Rapunzel, it's not the girl talking."

"What?"

"The girl you are so fond of?" Artemis motioned to Diana. "She's not in control. Trapped in her own body, she is. _This_ is the power."

Diana's lips stretched into a self-satisfied smirk. "Indeed it is, and I feel great." My heart sank again.

"However, I find one thing puzzling," Artemis continued. "Why are these two boys so different from all of the other 'families' you have known? Why are they so special to you?"

Diana returned her gaze to us, her cold smile touching her eyes and creating a spark of warmth in her face. "Because they do not control me. They set rules to try to protect me, but that is because they care for me. And they give me the freedom I deserve to make my own choices and choose my own life. No one has ever allowed me that freedom. I may be immortal, but, because of you and your kind, I am a prisoner."

"Touching performance, really," Artemis smiled. "Now, tell me, what makes you so sure you can retrieve these boys without my stripping you of your vessel?"

"I am more powerful than you."

The deep, harsh laugh rang out again, echoing off the high stone walls. "Do you really believe that?" Artemis grinned, pulling a silver arrow from her quiver and knocking it on her moonlight bow.

"I do."

"Shame." Before I could process what was happening, the arrow was zipping through the air at an impossible speed, like a shooting star streaking down, straight for Diana's heart. I panicked and was about to throw myself at Artemis, but hit the ground in pain, my head feeling like it was going to burst, my eyesight going white. When I regained my senses, I peered up at Diana to see her fist closed around the arrow, the tip mere inches away from her chest.

"You're going to have to try a bit harder than that," she told the leather clad goddess above me.

"How did you...?"

"I told you," she replied calmly, snapping the arrow in half, "I'm more powerful than you are."

Artemis' eyes followed the broken arrow the the floor, then flew up to Diana's face, fiery with rage. She charged at her, a battle cry ripping from her lungs as she lunged for Diana, her balled fists sheathed in the armored gloves, speeding towards her at an alarming rate. I heard myself yell before vice-like hands clamped around my arms and dragged me back against the stone wall.

"Sammy!" Dean shouted, moving in front of me, blocking my view of the lethal women. "It's not her anymore, Sammy! It's not!"

"No!"

"Sammy! It's not!"

I flinched as the grunts and cries of pain from across the room reached my ears. Pressing the heels of my palms into my eyes, I took comfort in the shelter my big brother was giving me and resorted to praying to people whom I knew would never help me with this, but too desperate to care. I listened to the snap of bones and screams of pain, knowing that I was losing her again, shouting over and over in my head so loudly, everything else around me dulled.

_No, not again! Please, no! Not again! Please! Please!_

I don't know how much time passed, but it seemed both like an eternity and, somehow, like no more than a few seconds. There was a loud thud as someone hit the ground hard, then a crack of lightning and a blinding blue light that flashed through the room before everything fell into silence. Dean slowly moved away to turn around as we gazed, apprehensively at the survivor.

Alone, in a pool of blood, stood an inhumanly strong woman with long dark hair and a bow that seemed to be made of pure moonlight in her hand, a quiver of arrows that flew through the air like silvery shooting stars at her feet, and an incomprehensible power that made the very air about her seem to sizzle and pop with charge.

I slowly stood and cautiously made my way across the room to her, Dean right on my heels. She kept her eyes down as she tried to regain her composure, her labored breathing the only sound in the cold room.

"Diana?" I asked tentatively. "Is that you?"

Her head slowly shook from side to side.

"Are you in there _somewhere_?" I heard myself plead. She didn't respond. I gingerly touched her shoulder. "Diana?"

But when she finally raised her head to look up at me, her eyes were a bright blue.

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**Thoughts?**


	19. Chapter 19: Wars

**Toying with a couple of ideas...**

**Message me if you'd like to have input...**

* * *

- Sam's POV -

As soon as my eyes met hers, I felt my heart sink. Her irises glowed the color of the light that had emanated from her when she'd been stabbed. I knew in that instant that a battle had been won, but that the war had only begun.

"How did you know?" Dean asked, breaking the silence. It took a moment for Diana- or, whoever she was- to tear her gaze from me.

"Lisa and Ben told me," she told Dean in Diana's voice. "They said Castiel told them to find me so I could come get you."

"Where are they?"

"Outside."

Our eyes widened. "What!" we shouted together. Dean ran out the door but before she could follow him, I grabbed her arm.

"Why would you bring them here?" I demanded.

She shrugged. "I knew they would be safe, they were with me."

"You were going up against a god!"

"But I knew I'd win," she replied, cocking her head to the side and staring at me with those luminescent blue eyes as though I had said she should have been more careful when her opponent was a slug. My jaw set and I pulled her out of the room by her arm. She yanked her arm from my grasp, but walked beside me willingly, head held high. We found Dean outside, locked in the embrace of his adoring ex and her son.

"I told you they would be fine."

"Thank you," Lisa smiled at Diana, squeezing Dean tightly, then moving to put an affectionate hand on my shoulder. "Thank you."

"I didn't do it for you."

Lisa ignored the snide comment, moving back to Dean, but I threw a glare at her. This woman beside me was definitely not my Diana, but the fact that these things were coming out of her mouth pissed me off. I turned to Dean.

"What do we do now?"

"We go get the car and head back to home base," he sighed, gazing at Ben. "Sorry, bud, but we can't let you go home yet. Don't worry, though, our friend Charlie brought a bunch of game systems to where we're going so you should be set."

"You have a house now?" Lisa looked up at Dean, her hand still on his chest.

"Not exactly," he said, smiling softly down at her and, for just a moment, they looked like a couple again. Ben moved to Dean's side and completed a picture that made me smile to myself.

"We'll get the car, you guys grab anything you want and check out of the motel," Diana ordered before turning on her heel and starting away. I looked at Dean and we exchanged nods before I followed Diana out.

"What was that?" I asked when I caught up with her.

"What?" she asked, taking a sharp right and strutting down the next street.

"You just burst out with your plan that you didn't check with anyone else and walked away."

She gave me that you're-a-sad-idiot look again and exhaled. "Clearly, they needed a moment. I got us out of the way so they could have their family time before possibly having to say goodbye to each other forever. I would've thought you of all people would have appreciated that gesture."

"That was... Very thoughtful," I replied, casting a sidelong glance at her.

She stopped suddenly and turned to me, folding her arms beneath her breasts.

"What?" she growled. "Am I incapable of being considerate just because I'm not exactly what you want me to be?" She rolled her eyes and started to march away again.

"No, you're incapable of being considerate because you're friggen _La Femme Nikita_ times a hundred!" I replied, close on her heels.

"Sam, I'm exhausted, don't start," she warned.

"Or what?" I challenged. "You'll throw me through a wall?" She ignored me. "What? What are you gonna do? Are you gonna kill me?"

"No, I'll-" she stopped suddenly, swaying on the spot, her voice fading. "I-I'll..." Her eye lids slid closed over the glowing blue eyes and her body went limp, collapsing into my arms.

"Diana!" I yelled as she fell back against me. I held her against my chest and lifted her face to mine. "Diana?"

Just as suddenly as she'd passed out, her eyelids fluttered open again. The blue light had faded. As her warm hazel eyes blinked up at me, I felt my Diana, the Diana that I'd come to know and cherish, return to my arms.

"Diana?" I asked again, softly, hopefully. She smiled softly.

"Haven't we been here before?" she asked. I hugged her tightly against me, burying my face in her hair.

"I thought I'd lost you," I whispered. She reached up and wrapped her arms around my neck, stroking the back of my head as we held each other.

"I never left, Sam," she replied quietly. I pulled away, holding her a few inches from me, peering into her eyes. In the most inner part of her irises, right on the edge of the darkness where her pupils began, a slim ring of the blue light glowed very dimly.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Sometimes, when it's exorcised too much, the power gets worn out and retreats to recharge, going on auto-pilot," she explained. "Usually I can regain control of myself at those times, but it never lasts very long."

I exhaled, my shoulders and heart sinking knowing she'd leave again. "How long?"

"I don't know. I haven't exactly fought many gods before," she replied, faking a smile for me. When I didn't return the smile, she reached up and pulled my head down so we were nose to nose. "I'll never stop fighting," she promised. "I'll always come back to you." I sighed and nodded, brushing my fingers against her cheek. She offered me another warm smile and kissed my lips softly. "We have to go," she whispered when our lips parted, her forehead still touching mine. I nodded but pulled her closer and kissed her again.

With our arms wrapped around each other and our mouths meeting for the first time in what seemed like a century, I felt myself losing grip of reality, and I desperately wanted to let it all just fade away so that I could forget Artemis, Castiel, Crowley. Forget the war between heaven and hell, forget the war between me, my brother, and the rest of the world, forget the war that Diana was fighting within her own mind. I just wanted to lie in her arms, savor her kiss, and not ever have to worry about monsters or hell or any of that. I could just stay in this moment forever.

But, no. No, we sacrificed our imaginary paradise and pulled away because there were lives on the line and because we were fighters, not cowards. We would fight to the death for our freedom, and even after death, with our history. But there was one consolation in it all, one glistening prize in all the shit we were buried beneath, family. And, cliche and cheesy as it was, I was grateful for it. I had Dean and I had Diana and I knew that with those two by my side, I could get through anything.

As we walked down the back roads near the lake, looking for the car, I took comfort in simply holding Diana's hand and as we talked, she kept a calm and controlled composure, but I knew she was terrified. I squeezed her hand gently when she told me she'd watched herself do things that she wasn't proud of. I told her that she wasn't alone.

"To be honest, you're not really one of us until you've died and returned as well as made a few huge mistakes," I told her. She smiled weakly up at me and I dropped a kiss on her head. "Whether you're proud of it or not, it happened and you can't change it. It's hard. And it never gets easier, I can promise you that. But we're in a war. Casualties are guaranteed. We can limit them, but not eliminate them."

She nodded, but didn't say anything. We walked a little farther, then stopped so I could look around and try to figure out if I'd been down the road we were on.

"This way," I said, pulling her along. We made a few more turns before finding the car, exactly where I'd left it, completely in tact.

"Wow. Looks like no one has even come by," Diana said, then raised an eyebrow. "That's the most suspicious thing I think I've ever seen."

I nodded, then cautiously walked around the car, peering through the windows for any sign of damage. I checked the trunk and under the hood. Everything was there. When I put the hood down, Cas was standing beside me. Diana and I both jumped and I threw my arm out in front of her.

"What do you want, Castiel?" I demanded.

"You will find everything in tact," he informed me. "I took the liberty of shielding the car so that you would be able to retrieve it as you had left it. It wouldn't be fair if you had lost the car or your equipment or it had been damaged because a goddess had captured you. I figured it was the least I could do after upsetting you so when I killed- well, _tried_ to kill- the girl."

"Let me guess, you thought I'd be so grateful that I wouldn't mind if you tried to kill her again," I snarled.

Cas hung his head. When he lifted it, he looked pained. "I see now that the vessels are not merely suits for the power to wear." His eyes shifted to Diana. "They are people who are very real and very dear to my friends. While I still believe her incapable of loving you, as your friend, I am willing to listen to your reasoning as to why we should not strip the power of it's vessel and move it somewhere else."

I exchanged glances with Diana, then looked back at Castiel. "Look, Cas, we can't talk now. Dean's waiting for us. We're still running from every other creature out there that wants to get their hands on Diana. We need to hole up somewhere safe so we can make a plan. If you're willing to help us, that's great, and we'll gladly accept, but we can't discuss differences in opinion now. We need to go."

"I understand," Cas nodded. "When you wish to speak with me, pray to me and I shall come to you." And with that, he disappeared.

I felt Diana physically relax behind me and I glanced over my shoulder when she rested her forehead against my arm. I pulled her close and whispered more promises to keep her safe, then we got into the car and raced back to the motel.

Once the others had all piled in, I filled Dean in on Diana's state, how the power was expected to tune in and out, and on Castiel's offer. He stared at the road ahead, lips pursed, considering all that I had just thrown at him, then nodded.

"We'll talk."

"Great, but Dean, if he's just trying to-"

"We'll talk to him, Sam. But, for now, that's it. No more."

I nodded and we drove the rest of the way in silence.

Once back home, we got Ben set up with some video games and Diana brought him cookies and other junk to dig into. He dove into the games, probably to distract himself from all the crap he'd been facing. We moved to the library where Diana's books were still strewn all over the table, each open to a page, a pile of notes by her laptop in the center of it all. I helped her move everything off to the side so that we could all sit around the table and discuss what to do next.

"As the non-hunter here, I have to say that I'm getting very lost," Lisa admitted. She looked at Diana. "I'm sorry, but I still don't really understand who you are."

"Honestly, I'm not sure I understand either," she sighed, massaging her temples.

"Diana is our friend," I told Lisa. "We met her on a case and found out she has something powerful inside of her that every supernatural creature is vying for. We've been training her to be a hunter and fighting to protect her."

"So you're not a hooker?" Lisa asked. We all burst out laughing and a great deal of the tension was released.

"No, I'm not a hooker," Diana grinned.

"Nah, she's more like the second little sister I never wanted," Dean smirked. He and Diana shared a smile and he winked at her.

"Who's the first?" Lisa asked.

"Another friend of ours, Charlie," I smiled. "She pops up occasionally."

"Of course, we _both_ consider _Charlie_ our little sister," Dean smirked. "_I'm_ the only one who thinks of _Diana_ like a little sister."

"Oh?" Lisa raised her eyebrows at me with a smile and I felt my face heat.

"Yeah, okay. Moving on."

"Your _f__riend_, you said?" she teased.

"No, not exactly," I admitted, glancing at Diana who was blushing as well, but smiling just the same. "Anyway..."

"Our problem," Diana said, saving me, "boiled down to basics, is that I have this power inside of me that I can't control and that everyone else wants and are willing to cut throats to get it. Unfortunately, that means that you and Ben are targets because you are important to Dean, which automatically makes you important to me."

"How sweet," Lisa sighed. "Unfortunate and consequential, but sweet."

"Sorry," Diana smiled shyly. "I wish you weren't at such risk."

Lisa shrugged. "It's all right. We're kind of used to it at this point."

"But that's not okay," Dean told her. "You shouldn't have to live your lives in fear."

"Every mother lives in fear, Dean," Lisa replied.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Dean said, giving her a hard look.

"This isn't the time," Lisa protested.

"Actually, it's the perfect time," Dean argued. "If you'd rather we spoke in private, we can go to another room, but we do need to talk about this. Now."

Lisa sighed, excused herself, and rose to follow Dean into another room, leaving Diana and I alone again. I stared at her as she watched them go. She sighed, but didn't say anything.

"What is it?" I asked, touching her hand.

"They love each other," she said softly. "And they don't think they can be together."

"Well, they've tried," I said, pulling her from her chair beside me and into my lap. "It never works out because Dean's a hunter and he'll never stop being one, but Lisa cannot raise her son and sit at home waiting for the day when Dean doesn't come back. It's not fair."

She sighed and rested her head against my shoulder. "But he loves them so much... I just wish he could at least have that one thing, you know? In all of the crap that he's done all his life, he can't even keep the woman and child that he loves..."

I nodded and nuzzled her hair, letting my lips linger on her neck. She kissed my temple and held my hand in hers, lacing her fingers through mine.

"I'll fight for you," she said after a few moments of silence. I lifted my head to look her in the eyes. "I'll always fight for you. And I don't care if I have to spend the rest of my life holed up in hiding here or out on the road eating greasy diner food and sleeping in crappy motels, working on cases. I'll follow you to the ends of the earth, Sam. You are the most amazing man I've ever met, for so many reasons. You're incredibly smart, kind, selfless, among other shining qualities. And, yes, you're also scarred and broken. You have a very dark past and you come with a lot of baggage. You have and will probably continue to hurt me. But in life, everyone hurts you. But you, Sam Winchester, you are different because you're worth it. You are worth suffering for. And that's how I know. That's how I know that I love you."

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**Thoughts?**


	20. Chapter 20: First Steps

**Again, just making this up as I go along, so let me know what you think...**

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- Dean's POV -

I'm not one to break down and cry, but I'll be the first to admit that there were a lot of tears that night. From everyone. Lisa and I fought throughout the night because we knew it would never work out, but our hearts just couldn't accept it. The worst part of it, though, was when Ben came in and demanded that I teach him to be a hunter. When I heard that, I lost it completely.

"No," I told him. "Never."

"Why not!" he shouted. "Your dad taught _you_!"

"I would never sentence you to this life, Ben! I love you too much! I want something better for you! Not this!"

"But-"

"Do you think I want to see you out there in those dangerous situations, risking your life instead of hanging out with your friends! Do you think your mother wants you in the middle of gunfire instead of at school! Do you want to spend your whole life doomed to be alone until your early death, constantly losing people, watching them die! This is _not_ the life you want, Ben! Don't you _ever_ say that to me again!"

"Back off!" Lisa yelled, stepping in front of her son. "Don't you yell at my son that way!"

"Do you hear him!" I shouted. "He wants to throw his life away! You're his mother! Tell him that it's never gonna happen!"

"Why not?" rang out another voice. We all looked up at the top of the stairs to see Diana staring down at us.

"Stay out of this, Diana!" I warned. Sam appeared at her side, head low.

"It's not her, Dean."

"Fine! Stay out of this, you mega-watt freak!"

Diana rolled her eyes at me. "Look, all I'm saying is Ben and Lisa are important to you. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. They will always be targets. Why not teach them to protect themselves?" She cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow, as though she'd just made an immovable argument.

"Yeah!" Ben chimed in. "I don't have to go looking for them, I just have to be able to protect myself! C'mon, Dean, please! It makes sense!"

"No!"

"Fine!" he shouted, glaring at me. "Then I'll just go sit in my room and wait to be attacked!" He stomped up the stairs, past Diana and Sam, and down the hall.

Lisa exhaled, covering her face with her hands. "Great," she groaned. "Now I have to talk him out of running away and becoming Van Helsing."

I glared up at Diana and Sam. "Would you just-"

"What do you want me to do?" Sam asked. "Chain her up?"

"You wish," Diana hissed, then started down the stairs. "Look, it's a very simple matter. Logically, you want to be together and nothing is stopping you. Lisa and Ben would be in constant danger? Breaking news, Dean, they already are. You erased yourself from their memories completely and they were _still_ attacked. Sorry, but staying away doesn't keep them safer. In fact, it's worse because it'll take you longer to get to them if they need your help. The rational solution is to teach them to protect themselves and keep them close. You humans are ridiculous. This shouldn't be a debate."

She walked away, head high, and all I wanted to do was just punch her in the face.

"What the hell is with her?" Lisa asked.

"She's sort of possessed," Sam sighed. "I'll try to keep her from causing any more problems. I'm sorry for what she said."

"Well, she wasn't wrong," Lisa exhaled, watching them go.

"What are you talking about? Of course she's wrong!"

"No, Dean," Lisa sighed, looking up at me with pained eyes. "She was being rational. Everything she said made sense. You can't deny that, Dean."

"So... What are you saying? You want Ben to grow up the way I did?"

"No, but I only have a few short years left during which I can make decisions for him. I want him to grow up to be a good man, Dean. A good man, like you are." She moved closer to me, reaching up to touch my cheek, tears in her eyes. "I don't want my baby to die. But he can't keep living his life going back and forth between normality and your reality. And now that he's older, he's able to form his own opinions and make his own choices. He loves you, Dean, we both do. And we both want you around."

"You told me that we could only-"

"I know what I told you," she cut me off, her voice breaking. "But I also know that, realistically, what Diana said was true. Dean, we can never go back to that life. Not without you. We need you. Please. If not for my sake, for Ben's. You keep saying you want him to have a good future. He may not even get a future if you leave us again. Please, Dean."

I stared down into her eyes as she begged. My heart was shattered at her words and I gently removed her hand from my cheek and replaced it by her side.

"Fine," I whispered, turning away from her. "If you follow Ben upstairs and go down the hall on your right you'll find some empty bedrooms. You can each have one. I have to go."

"Thank you so much," Lisa breathed behind me. "And Dean?" She caught my arm and I turned to look back at her coldly.

"I have to go," I told her, pulling my arm away. "Excuse me." I stalked off in the direction that Sam and Diana had earlier gone, leaving her behind.

I finally found them in the library, Diana flipping casually through a few books, smirking to herself, Sam glaring at her from across the room, his eyes following her suspiciously. I walked up to him and leaned back against the shelf he was standing in front of.

"What's with the sour face?" I asked.

"She's trapped inside there with something powerful enough to send a god running back to Olympus and I can't help her," he replied impassively. "You?"

"She begged me to let them stay so that I could protect them."

Sam glanced over at me. "Seems legitimate."

"Yeah, too bad she didn't even bother to mention maybe wanting to stay because she misses me and wants to try again."

"She iced you?" Sam asked softly. I raised my eyebrows in reply, shifting my weight and crossing my arms over my chest. "I'm sorry, man."

"Yeah, well. How about you? What happened after we left besides the Freaky Friday mind switch?"

Sam exhaled, returning his gaze to Diana. "She said she wished you and Lisa and Ben could have a happy life together because she thinks you deserve it." I felt a tiny smile pull at my lips. "And she told me... She told me she loves me." I forced my painfully small smile to grow for him.

"I'm happy for you, man."

"Yeah, it's great," he sighed. "If I could ever get her back."

"You will, don't worry," I promised, putting a hand on his shoulder. "C'mon, let's call Cas and have a little chat about TNT over there."

"She'll be pissed if she finds out what we're talking about and we can't exactly chain her up."

I raised an eyebrow as I watched Diana pull out more books and pace around the table, smiling and occasionally laughing at what she read. I glanced back at Sam.

"I think she's pretty invested in those things."

- Sam's POV -

We left Diana in the library and went to pray for Cas outside so as not to completely compromise the base if it didn't go so well. He appeared after almost five minutes.

"I apologize for the delay," he said. "It was a bit difficult to locate you."

"Good," Dean said, shifting his weight. "Sam said you want to help us."

"I said I was willing to listen to your reasoning as to why I should not kill the girl," Cas corrected.

"Because she's innocent," I snapped. "She's done nothing wrong. In fact, she's done a lot of good and wants to, and is more than capable of, doing a lot more. Just because she got saddled with this supernatural burden, you want to take her life. She did not have a choice in this matter. She's the equivalent of no more than an unfortunate bystander."

"Fair enough," Cas nodded. "But why can we not strip the power of the vessel and move it somewhere else?"

"Is that possible?" Dean asked. "I thought you said the only thing strong enough to contain that thing was a human soul."

"True," Cas agreed. "But perhaps we can transfer it to a different soul. One that is not on earth to trouble the living."

"Could you do that?" I asked. "And Diana would be all right?"

"Well, frankly, I don't know," he admitted. "It would be a delicate process and would take a great deal of power. It would not be a task that I could complete alone. We would have to compromise."

"Compromise?" Dean asked. "With who?" Castiel didn't answer, just cast his eyes down towards the ground. "What, Crowley? No way! That son of a bitch will just stab us in the back, are you kidding!"

"If he agreed," I asked, "would it work?"

"We would need further cooperation," Cas explained. "But if we got enough people behind us, then yes, we could potentially remove the power from Diana's soul without causing too much damage."

"What kind of further cooperation?" I asked.

"Sam, you can't be serious!" Dean laughed.

I looked him square in the face. "This is the woman I love. I am _dead_ serious, Dean." Looking back at Cas again, I repeated my question.

"With the combined efforts of myself, and Crowley, we may be able to remove it with damage," Castiel confessed. "In order to transfer it completely, with minimal damage, we'll need the cooperation of the Black Horseman."

"_Death_?" Dean raised his eyebrows, putting his hands on his hips. "You want us to ask _Death_ to help?"

"If you wish Diana to survive the transaction, yes, that is advisable."

"Dean," I begged. "We've gotta try."

He took a deep breath, then started to move his hands as he spoke, painting a picture in the air of his thoughts.

"Okay, here's what I'm thinking. If we can get Crowley and Death to cooperate, we organize an attack to exhaust the power, get it to go on autopilot again. When Diana's back in the saddle, we fill her in a the last minute, then strap her down and play surgeon. Extract the power and move it to a human soul that is not on earth. A human soul that understands us and our situation. Someone that we know can handle this. Someone that we know we can trust. Someone pure."

"Dean, is that fair?" I asked.

"No, but is anything?"

I sighed. "Do you think she'd do it?"

Dean sighed, folding his arms again. "For us, Sammy? I think she'd do anything."

I sighed as well and nodded. We looked at Castiel. "Let's do it."

* * *

**What are you guys thinking?**

**How are the guys at understanding their girls? Will the ever get a chance at love and happiness?**

**Who does Sam and Dean want to ask to retain the power?**

**Will Crowley and Death cooperate and, if so, will it work?**


	21. Chapter 21: Deals with Death and Devils

**I'm sorry about the delay, I wrote something awesome and then it crashed... :P**

**I hope it was worth the wait**

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- Sam's POV -

Despite Castiel's support and encouragement, it wasn't an easy task to get Crowley and Death to cooperate. We summoned Crowley first. He was pissy but I'm pretty sure it was because he still hadn't figured out how to capture and destroy Diana. He rolled his eyes when he saw the Devil's Trap painted on the ceiling.

"What the hell do you want?" he growled. When we told him our plan, and that we wanted his cooperation, he laughed. "You want me to help you save the life of the little whore?"

"Watch it," I snarled. Dean held his hand up in front of me and took a step toward Crowley.

"It's to our mutual benefit," he said.

"Just the way killing Lilith was to our mutual benefit?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

Dean scowled, rolling his eyes toward me. I took another step forward.

"Look at it this way," I suggested. "With the power still in Diana, everyone's going to continue to scramble for power and control, including all of the demons that should be under _your_ control."

"Oh, please," he rolled his eyes. "My subjects fear me. Always have and always will."

"There's only one of _you_, Crowley," I warned. "There are many, many of _them_. And you aren't exactly the most powerful thing that's after her. She fought a god the other day. And won. Who knows what she could do once controlled by someone more powerful than her. And even if she never is controlled, she'll come after you. And she'll win. Unless you help us remove and transfer the power. Then your rule will be restored and your kingdom will no longer be anarchy."

Crowley stared at us for a few long moments before lacing his fingers together.

"All right, I'll help you. But you'll have to sweeten the pot a bit."

Dean stepped up beside me. "What did you have in mind, exactly?"

Crowley's slow, oily smile spread across his face. "A year."

"A year of what?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest.

"A year during which my demons are untouched by you and yours," he smirked. "You leave them alone, they leave you alone."

"We can't control other hunters," Dean said. "We don't even know all of them."

"True," Crowley nodded. "But you can back off your little hunting cases and force the whore to close her legs around them as well."

I bit down on the inside of my cheek, trying to keep my cool. I knew that this was the deal breaker for Crowley, but I also knew that Dean would never go for it, and I couldn't blame him for not wanting to. Despite how nice a year off demons might be, a whole year of them having free reign could rack up an insane body count. We couldn't risk something like that.

"Fine," Dean suddenly said.

"What?"

"We'll do it," he confirmed. "A truce for a year. No attacks by you, no attacks by us or Diana, we swear."

Crowley's oily smile pulled at his lips again. "Good." With a flourish of his hand, he held a contract, then tossed it out to us. I pulled a knife from my belt and we each sliced our palms, letting our blood drip onto the bottom of the contract. As soon as the blood made contact with the surface, it danced across the paper until it formed our signatures. We tossed the contract back to Crowley and I bent to scrape the side of the Devil's Trap away.

"Nice doing business with you," he smirked, then disappeared in a puff of red smoke.

Death, on the other hand, was not so petty or power-hungry, and therefore not so easy to bargain with. Dean made sure we approached him in a way that he believed would maximize our chances of achieving his cooperation. I pointed out that we likely couldn't bribe Death, but Dean was determined to set everything up properly, if not to bribe, than to at least attempt to show respect and gratitude after summoning him.

As we explained Diana's situation and our plan, Death organized the fast food meal that Dean had gotten for him, and began to chew on some fries thoughtfully as we spoke, before swallowing and regarding us with some superior, almost disdainful, annoyance.

"Dean, as I have mentioned to you before, I am responsible for much more than just this planet. And as insignificant as this entire planet is to me, imagine how insignificant this one girl is. Frankly, I don't care."

Having had very limited experience with Death myself, I was highly discouraged at this, but Dean kept pushing.

"I know that you think she is insignificant and, by some standards, I'm sure she is, but you have to look at this as less about her one life, and more about the lives that she affects," he said. "You were the one who taught me how crucial balance is to this world, and how delicate it is. This power is affecting that balance wildly merely by being active. If it continues to grow and spiral out of control, we could have a genocide on our hands, I'm talking mass killings, nationwide massacres. In addition to that, the supernatural world is all out of wack, too, because everyone is scrambling for power and to capture and harness her. The removal of this power from earth is crucial to the delicate balance that you've showed me. It's necessary."

Death finished his fries and started to unwrap his burger with his long, bony fingers. "You know, Dean, as well as you are making your point about balance and how each life, especially one harboring such a weapon, is important to the development and even survival of others, I cannot believe that you are purely interested in restoring the balance that is my responsibility to preserve. Indeed, I believe you to be driven to this decision very much by your own emotions and desires for your brother, here, who has clearly fallen for the girl. Clearly, you are not asking me to help you spare her life to restore my precious balance, but to spare the feelings of your beloved little brother."

Dean folded his arms over his chest and sighed. "You know what? You're right. This _is_ about love. I _do_ want my brother to be happy and if Diana makes him happy, I want her to be around for him. But this is beyond that. Yes, Sam loves Diana, that's very clear. I love her, too, and I will fight for her. Because she has accomplished something that I didn't think was possible. She has changed my brother and I. She has changed who we are as people, how we look at the world and the people around us, and how we see ourselves and our jobs. This is absolutely about love. But it's not about our love for her, it's about _her_ love for us, for everyone. When we first found Diana, she was afraid of us, and we of her. I thought she was a monster and was ready to kill her on the spot, but when I held a gun to her, she didn't run, she took full responsibility of anything she might have done and merely asked that I let her live so that she could try to make up for her mistakes. When we showed her the monsters that live in the shadows, she didn't run home and hide under the covers, she gave up any potentially normal and happy life she could have had to fight them. But Diana doesn't hunt out of spite or for vengeance, the way Sam and I were raised to. She doesn't hunt to kill the monsters. She hunts to save the people. Because she loves them, all of them. She's had a hard life, but she has made the best of everything she could. She was training to be a nurse so that she could save lives and help people; kids and families. She emotionally adopted maybe a dozen foster kids just because they were there and needed to be loved. When I treated her coldly because I didn't trust her and I didn't want to admit that I could relate to her, she met me with warm smiles and patience. I am a stubborn man, as you know, but this woman has changed me. I have come to love her like a little sister, not because she's handy on hunts, not because she's powerful, not because Sam has fallen for her, but because she is what a _real_ angel should be. She's a symbol of hope, of all that is good about humanity. _That_ is where the balance comes in. In this world, tiny and insignificant as it may seem to you, to us humans, we have major problems. There is war and hunger and violence and homelessness and prejudice and inequality and that's not including all of the monsters under our beds. But people like Diana are what makes this world keep spinning. We have hope and light because of them. Because of their unconditional love for others. But, unfortunately, these people are very rare. And the power inside Diana is eating away at her and changing her, destroying her. Yes, sometimes good people have to die. But this woman has so much potential to do so much good for a dark and terrified world. After surviving what was almost an apocalypse, we, as a race, are a hot mess. We need people like Diana to help us get back on our feet and remember who we are and how we'll carry on; together. You take her away, and you let that hope fade. You let that hope fade and this whole world is lost. It might take years, but it will happen. If these people, our human leaders and moral guides, continue to change and die, we'll all die, because it takes someone special to hold onto a beautiful perspective of an ugly world. But it takes someone magnificent to be able to show that to others, share that hope, spread that light, and change people. So, if you _truly_ care about balance, even here on this tiny little planet, you'll help us preserve the people who keep the balance in humanity, starting with Diana."

I stood there, dumbstruck, just staring at my brother. I wasn't so much shocked that he felt this way as I was shocked that he would voice it in front of me, let alone in front of Death. I suddenly found that I understood the smiles Dean and Diana shared. She had always cared, but knew that Dean would take time to warm up to her, if he ever did. Once his perspective of her changed, the smiles were his way of telling her, and hers were her way of accepting a new relationship. Diana, the woman who showed me that I'm not a broken, worthless man, but a man filled with drive, heart, and potential, had touched my brother in a way neither of us had thought possible. She'd helped him to open his heart and mind once more to the possibility of love and happiness. And for that I knew I'd be eternally grateful.

Death finished chewing his burger, then wiped his fingers and mouth on a paper napkin and took a sip of his soda. He stared up at Dean and I with cold, dark, sunken eyes and a stony expression.

"I'll have to remind you that I do not owe you anything," he said after a few moments of silence. Dean and I nodded.

"No, sir, of course not," I said. "We don't ask this as repayment for anything. In fact, we'd be willing to pay _you_ in any way we can that you'd see fit."

Death just continued to stare at us, sipping his soda until it was gone, then slowly collecting the trash from his meal and replacing it in the paper bag it had come in. He set the bag to the side, then folded his hands in his lap and continued to stare up at us.

"I appreciate your honesty, Dean," he finally said, breaking the tense silence. "But more than your honesty, I appreciate your perspective. You are stubborn, as you have mentioned, and often do not allow yourself to consider any other point of view than your own when you are emotionally involved in a situation. Listening to your argument, I can tell that you have thought this through. What may have begun as a rash decision made in the heat of a passionate moment has transformed. You have mulled this idea around in your brain for quite some time, I can tell, thinking about it in such a way that would allow you to see the situation from Sam's eyes, my eyes, and the eyes of your fellow man. You have certainly come far." He held up one long bony finger. "For that reason, as well as the significant circumstances in which these events have occurred, I shall help you transfer this power to another soul. You are not incorrect when you claim that Diana is an unusually important woman."

As he rose from his chair and calmly went about collecting his cane and old fashioned doctor's briefcase, he told us that he had much to do and would appear only when summoned at the proper time for the transformation to occur.

"Sir?" I called just as he was about to leave the empty diner. He turned back to stare at me. "What did you mean when you said Diana was an unusually important woman? Was it for any reason other than being a vessel for this power?"

Death blinked at me impassively, then said, "You shall not be the last to know," and walked out the door. Dean and I watched him gracefully slide into a white Cadillac and drive away, disappearing halfway down the street.

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	22. Chapter 22: Putting Things In Motion

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- Sam's POV -

With all of the secret planning with Cas, sneaking around, making deals in the dead of the night, I was exhausted, but at the same time, I couldn't imagine ever going to sleep again. It was hard to convince Lisa to keep an eye on Diana without telling her why. She was terrified of her, and for good reason. Dean and I lingered around her whenever we could to remain looking suspicious and distrustful in her eyes. The last thing we wanted was for her to feel like we'd become more relaxed and start snooping around to find out why.

One night, we stayed in to map out an attack in secret, then spend the evening in the open to appear as though Dean was trying to spend time with Lisa and Ben while I got some sleep. I tossed and turned, restless with anticipation and anxiety. At some point, I sat up to get some water and jumped when I raised my head.

"Relax," Diana whispered. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

"What do you want?" I snapped, my hand sliding under my pillow and wrapping around the gun.

"If I tell you, you'll think it's stupid," she said, casting her eyes away.

"Well right now I think it's an attack, so start talking," I growled, my grip tightening on the handle.

She sighed and brought her eyes up, glowing silvery blue in the darkness of my room, to meet mine. "I miss you."

"What?"

"I miss you, all right?" she snarled, folding her arms and turning her back on me. "I hate it and it's annoying, but I do."

I sat up a little straighter, staring at her skeptically. "Well, I miss _Diana_, so I guess we're both gonna be disappointed."

"What if I gave her to you?" she asked, fingering the photograph of my mom stuck in the side of my mirror.

"What?"

"Just for a little while," she smiled softly, sadly, at me in the mirror. "Just to ease your apprehension a bit."

"And why would you do that for me?" I snapped, rising from the bed slowly. "You don't care."

"I do, though," she sighed, turning to face me. "It's really frustrating, and I don't want to, but I care."

"Why?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "My vessels have fallen in love before. What's so different about this one, right? Well, I really don't know. All I _do_ know is I can feel her inside and she aches for you. And, for whatever reason, so do I. And I want to make it stop."

"It won't stop," I sighed. "You took me away from her. It will never stop."

"Well, I figure if I let her be with you for a little while, maybe it'll at least ease up, right?" She bit her lip as she looked up at me and I could almost see my Diana just below that surface.

I shook my head. "No."

Her expression darkened. "What, you don't want her, now?"

"Of course I do."

"Well, I'm offering her!"

"I know!" I barked. "I know what you're offering, all right? And, yes, I want to talk to her, I want to hold her, I want to be with her, but you're only going to take her away again! And the ache you're feeling? It'll only make it worse, for you _and_ for me!" The cell on my bedside table rang out loudly, and I snatched it up and put it to my ear without taking my eyes off her. "What?"

"I'm sending you the backup you requested," Bobby's voice said from the other end. "What's with you?"

"Don't worry about it," I sighed. "Thanks. When?"

"Should be there within a couple days. I'll warn ya, though. Don't judge her by her size."

"Yeah, got it. Thanks, Bobby." I hung up and tossed the phone down again. She had turned her back on me again while I was on the phone and was holding one of my button downs, running her thumbs over the material.

"You really need to wear something other than stripes," she said softly and I could hear the smile in her voice. She lifted her head and when I saw her hazel eyes in the mirror, I almost collapsed. I reached out and took her wrist gently, pulled her close, wrapping my arms around her and burying my face in her hair.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered. She reached up to stroke the back of my head.

"For what?" she asked, holding me tightly. I squeezed her gently and kissed her shoulder.

"Believe me," I sighed, "you'll know."

- Dean's POV -

I listened to Lisa tucking Ben into bed and my heart ached, but I knew it wasn't for want of being with them. I'd come to terms with losing them before. Now I grieved the life they hoped that they could still have.

Lisa came to the top of the stairs, then started down to me. "You wanna come to bed? With me?" I shook my head. She stopped. "Oh..."

"Lisa," I sighed. "We've talked about this."

She looked down and nodded. "I know... I guess I was just hoping..."

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine." She lifted her head again, fighting her disappointment. "Actually, it's great, you know? You're doing this because you care. Thank you." I nodded. After another moment of silence, she spoke again. "You know... I still love you..."

"I know," I sighed. "I'll always love you, Lisa. But not like I did."

She cast her eyes down once more and nodded. "Goodnight, Dean," she whispered, then turned and disappeared back up the stairs. As soon as she'd gone up and out of sight, Cas appeared at my side.

"Everything is set," he said. I nodded once. "This is may not work, Dean. You know that, don't you?" I nodded again. "Are you prepared?" I only blinked. "Is Sam?" I still didn't respond. Cas sighed and nodded. "Very well. Take her to this address," he instructed, touching my temple and sending the address straight into my brain. "We'll attack at dawn to guarantee proper timing for the transformation." I nodded once more and he disappeared.

Sam appeared at the top of the stairs and I knew he'd just seen Cas too. We exchanged glances, then turned again to begin.

- Diana's POV -

It was a weird feeling. I was sort of awake, but at the same time, everything was involuntary. I felt like there was another person living in my body and mind, and yet, it felt like it was all a part of me. Sometimes, I got groggy and confused and started to wonder whether or not it was all real. Sometimes I was allowed to come to the surface, like the previous night when I was in Sam's room.

Oh, God, Sam. I felt so horrible every time I saw that sad look in his puppy dog eyes. And when he'd looked at me the night before, apologizing over and over, I could almost feel my heart physically breaking beneath my ribs. But, despite the pain we both felt, we made the best of the night. We hadn't made love, that would've felt weird, but we talked and laughed, and pretended for just a little while, like we were normal. It was really nice, but within a few hours, Dean had knocked on the door and I fell back into the dark recesses of my own consciousness.

Sam became rigid beside me, sensing the shift within my head, and rose to open the door. Dean stood there, looked at me, then shifted his eyes back to Sam and cocked his head to the side, signaling for us to follow him.

"Crowley's back," Dean growled in the car. "We need you to help us send him back under."

I smirked and folded my arms casually, leaning back against the leather seats. "Happy to."

They drove to an abandoned farm with a rotting barn and a few stables that were falling apart. When we got out of the car, Sam pointed me toward the barn.

"We figure he's most likely in there, but we're gonna check the fields and stables just to be sure," he said. "You coming?"

"If you think he's in there, why would you look elsewhere first?" I rolled my eyes. Sometimes these boys were about as sharp as a spoon. Sam rolled his eyes back at me and Dean just walked off in the direction of the stables. I turned on my heel and headed for the barn.

- Sam's POV -

Walking around through the stables, we climbed into the creaky hayloft of the barn from the back and crawled on our bellies through the rotting hay to peer over the edge.

"This better work," Dean whispered.

The barn doors creaked as Diana pulled them open. She walked down the center of the barn, glancing around impatiently, but silently. Soon, demons began emerging from the animals stalls and dark corners, three at a time. Diana laughed when she saw them, spread her feet to ensure stability and grinned.

"Bring it on."

They all lunged at her at once. Despite the power we knew that she harbored to take them all out with a simple blow to the ground or the walls of the building, she enjoyed fighting and destroying them each personally, just as we had anticipated.

As we watched, my phone started to vibrate in my pocket. Afraid Diana would hear or feel it, I quickly fumbled to silence it. Dean had to do the same. Luckily, our shuffling was muted by the smack of skin on skin, the snap of bones, pop of joints, and cries of pain coming from the brawl beneath us. The demons started to drop quickly when Crowley and Cas appeared in the thick of them.

They exchanged glances and nods before acting as game players, moving the demons as pawns, their influence hidden from Diana by the growing number of bodies as demons kept charging into the barn to fight. She kicked, punched, elbowed, kneed, bit, fought tooth and nail, and it took a while before her energy appeared to be draining. Once she got irritated and was about to start tapping into the telekinetic base of the power, Crowley upped the numbers and power levels of the demons he brought in.

Suddenly, the doors of the barn burst open and something rushed head first into the middle of the violent throng. Demons dropped quickly and Crowley and Cas backed up, pulling their pawns back as they tried to figure out what had just happened. With a snap of Crowley's fingers, they all dropped to the ground, leaving to women left standing.

"Diana?" gasped the intruder.

She whipped around, eyes wide. "Kara?"

"Look what you've done you mini-bitch," Crowley snarled, charging at her in fury.

"No!" Diana screamed, running at them. Crowley's hands stretched out to grasp Kara's head, but, within an instant, Kara was on the ground and Diana had taken her place.

"NO!" we all screamed as a loud crack shattered through the tension in the air and Diana dropped.

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	23. Chapter 23: Cheats and Liars

**I'm glad you're enjoying it, for sure, but if you tell me what it is that you like/dislike,**

**it helps me improve my writing/plot and character development for this story as well as any others I may write.**

**Thanks!**

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- Dean's POV -

As soon as Diana had hit the ground, Sam and I scrambled down from the hayloft, our feet finding the ground just in time to see Crowley smirk at us, grab the limp Diana and disappear in a puff of red smoke.

"Goddammit!" I yelled, punching my fist through the rotting barn wall. "I knew he'd turn on us! Cas, what the hell!" But when we looked over, Cas had disappeared.

"He was in on it," Sam whispered in disbelief. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted him!"

"What the hell is going on!" Kara yelled. "I got a call requesting back up for a couple of hunters in a sticky situation and I track them down, throw myself into a demon brawl, and come to find that my best friend is mixed up with demons, hunters, and angels? And what the hell are you two-" The anger melted away from her face as shock replaced it. "Wait a minute. _You're_ the hunters I'm here to help?" She put her head in her hands. "Great, that's just great. She works hard her whole life to get off the streets and then she gets mixed up with a couple of hunters. Typical."

"Hold on," I snarled. "Little five foot Kara? You're a _hunter_?"

"Hey!" Kara snapped. "Don't judge me by my size! I could kick your ass!"

"For how long?" Sam asked, gaping at her.

"Since my parents' hearts were ripped out and eaten," she growled, folding her arms. "Now, can we get back to what the hell is going on here?"

Sam and I exchanged glances. "You get home and start working on finding Diana," I told him. "I'll catch her up." Sam nodded and ran out the door.

"Where is he going?" she demanded. "Doesn't he understand that she just died!" The truth of it finally hit her and she squeezed her eyes shut, hanging her head, trying to keep from dissolving into tears. "Oh, God..."

"Hey," I said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It's gonna be okay, I promise."

"She's dead!"

"No, I really don't think she is."

Kara raised her head to look at me with watery eyes. "W-what? What do you mean? I-I saw it. I saw him..."

"I know what you saw," I said, squeezing her shoulder gently. "But, Diana has a force inside of her that isn't going to allow her to die. It's healed her from fatal wounds before, it will do it again. Crowley, the demon, didn't know that. He thinks he's killed her, but he'll be shocked when she wakes up. If we can find her fast enough, catch him by surprise, we might be able to get her back. But, we'll need your help. Can you pull it together to do this? For Diana?"

She nodded, wiping her nose and blinking her tears away. "Of course I can," she insisted. "I'm a hunter."

I offered her a small smile. "C'mon, I'll take you back to our place and explain as best I can on the way." Giving her another shoulder squeeze, I let her lead me out of the barn and to her car. "You know," I said as we walked, "for a shorty, you're not a bad fighter."

"Just don't piss me off," she smirked. I chuckled and got into the passenger's seat.

- Cas' POV -

Her screams rang in my ears no matter where I went. When I returned, she was fairly silent, just breathing heavily, but I could still hear her cries as though they were currently tearing through the air. I dropped the bag of supplies onto the table, beside the various instruments that were coated in blood, dried and fresh. Crowley, wearing a black leather apron over his suit, stroked his chin leisurely as he watched her.

"I didn't expect her to live," he grumbled, then smirked. "But, I'm enjoying myself. My only question is, why is she so weak now?" He removed a bottle of Craig from the bag I'd brought and poured some into a glass.

"The power is exhausted," I informed him. "It has used up a lot of energy holding onto her mind and soul and healing her body so it may retain it's host. You see, if Diana dies, the power is recycled and placed into another body, likely a fetus. The memory of the soul is wiped and it would become dormant again. I have never heard of it becoming so independent before. It's as though it's growing into it's own person now."

"So if we killed her now," Crowley drawled, trailing his finger across the stubble on his chin, "we can harvest the power for ourselves."

"No. If we kill her, we lose the power again. We need her. She is what is keeping it here, within our reach."

Crowley's smile slowly spread across his face, making the hairs on the back of my vessel's neck raise. "Very well," he sighed, standing and bringing himself face to face with the bound, bloodied, and battered girl hanging by her wrists. "I guess we'll just have to draw your pain out some more." Exchanging his liquor for a paper thin blade from his table, he slid it across the girl's exposed abdomen in an L shape, then lifted the corner of skin with two fingers and began to pull. The screams were more terrifying and brain rattling than ever. I had to leave.

- Sam's POV -

Dean, Kara and I had spent two days straight racking our brains for ways to find Diana without causing her more harm. We knew that by now, Crowley had found out about her self-healing. What we didn't know was what was going on inside Diana. After healing a second fatal wound, and likely being tortured, we didn't know if the power would take over the body to escape, or remain dormant, waiting for a time to heal it before running. Unless they'd killed her while she was weak.

No. No, I couldn't think about that. It wasn't possible. The power wouldn't let that happen, it was too attached to Diana and the ability to control the body it was trapped in. It wouldn't let her die.

"I don't understand why we don't just summon Crowley into a Devil's Trap, then torture her location out of him," Kara said, slamming her fist down onto the table.

"Because Castiel is in on it," Dean explained. "If we summon Crowley, Cas will know and probably just move Diana."

"Can't we summon them both?" she asked.

"We can only pray for Cas," I sighed, massaging my temples. "He has the power to ignore us."

"What about that other guy?" Kara suggested, pacing now. "Death. Can't we ask him to help?"

"To do what?" Dean asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Reap her soul? That's not exactly the goal, here."

"Well it's been two days!" Kara suddenly screamed. "We need to do something! NOW!"

"Hey!" I yelled. "Don't stand there all high and mighty like you're the only one who cares! We love her, too!"

Kara ran her fingers through her hair, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply. "I know," she sighed. "I know, and I'm sorry. I'm just so frustrated. She was always there to protect me. Always. And now I can't even return that."

"Listen to me, both of you," Dean stood. "We're gonna find her. I swear. We'll find her and we'll bring her home."

"I'm going to hold you to that," Kara threatened.

"Good," Dean nodded. "So am I. Now, we've exhausted all of our first ideas, but maybe we're looking at this the wrong way. Maybe we need to stop thinking about how to approach this as hunters. Maybe we need to think about this as demons or angels."

"Okay, uh, well, demons prefer large rural spaces with a lot of room for blood to pool and very solitary conditions so no one can..." Kara trailed off as she pictured Diana in such a situation.

"Right," I agreed, trying to banish the image myself. "And we know that Crowley likes torturing people who piss him off, so he'll be... busy..."

"But Cas would be pissed if other demons were around, right?" Dean offered. "So, it's gotta be just the two of them. A common ground where they're equals."

"You said they'd partnered up before," Kara interjected. "Did you ever find out where they did their dirty work? Maybe they went back."

"That place was basically burned to the ground," Dean groaned. He pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Okay, um, a quiet mutual territory where there's a lot of space and no people. Somewhere no one, especially demons and angels, ever goes. Somewhere Diana would be lost even if she did get out. Somewhere that's no where."

A fuzzy image of a map appeared in my head. A map with a Devil's Trap traced onto it, darkening lines that had already been there.

"The gate," I whispered. The others looked up at me. "The gate!"

"The gate to hell?" Dean asked.

"Yes!" I nodded. "It's a giant Devil's Trap! Crowley would be stuck there, but Cas could get in and out and could let him out if it was necessary! No other demons would go, and angels wouldn't be interested! It's a huge open space with nothing but graveyards and fields! I'll bet they're in one of the mausoleums by the gate!"

"Why would they go to a mausoleum?" Kara furrowed her brow.

"Because it's an empty building where they can do what they want," Dean smirked. "Sammy, you're a genius!"

"Wait a minute!" Kara held up her hands to stop us. "Okay, so maybe it makes sense, but what if there's another answer that makes sense and we're charging to an empty stone monument while Diana's suffering on the other side of the country, or world, even!"

"Crowley's a sentimental bastard," Dean told her as I grabbed my coat off a chair. "That gate is the first place Sam and I really became involved directly with hell."

"But that cemetery is not just linked to us, it's linked to Diana, too." I added.

Dean furrowed his brow at me. "How's that?"

"Her parents are buried there."

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	24. Chapter 24: Search and Rescue

**Happy Fourth, All!**

**Sorry for the late update...**

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- Kara's POV -

Driving there was hell. Dean had both feet firmly planted on the gas the whole way, and I still felt like we were moving too slowly. Sam's navigation was good, but I had the feeling we were going the wrong way, getting lost.

Sitting in the back of their black '67 Impala, I sharpened my knives to deadly points and cleaned out my guns, loading and re-loading them constantly, if nothing else, than to keep my hands busy. Horrible images of Diana raced through my mind and I couldn't escape that hair-raising smirk on Crowley's face as he took her away.

On the one hand, I wanted to pulverize those guys, especially Sam, for getting her mixed up in all this shit and for charming her into following them. Then again, she was already being hunted and I was glad that she'd run into the Winchesters so that they could at least help her learn to protect herself and feel like she wasn't alone.

Finally, Dean screeched to a halt just before a cemetery gate. We all jumped out of the car and I noticed a set of train tracks a few yards back that we must have flown over.

"What the hell do we bring?" Dean wondered aloud as he popped open the trunk, revealing a nice variety of guns, blades, holy water, rosaries, and hex bags. I helped him pick out a few choice weapons and tucked a couple more amongst my own. "What do you want, Sam? Sam?" When we looked up, he was no where to be seen.

"Where the hell did he go?" I demanded.

"Dammit, Sammy," Dean growled, slamming the trunk shut and starting off into the cemetery. I followed him quickly, keeping close, scanning the graves and the limp, dying trees. At one point, my eyes traveled up to meet his.

"I've got your back," I promised. He offered me a small smile, then nodded and we set off in search of our siblings together.

- Sam's POV -

As I gazed around the graveyard, I stepped carefully, following Diana's description of her parents' graves. When I finally found them, I hesitated, wondering if I should stop to pay my respects, then shook my head, deciding that it was more important to act quickly, for Diana's sake.

Gazing over the headstones before me, I saw no sign of a mausoleum. But when I turned around, one seemed to rise from the ground and jump out at me. Looking back over my shoulder, I saw Kara and Dean slowly wading through the sea of headstones. I waved to them, then loaded my shotgun and started into the large stone monument.

Leaving the door open behind me, I started down a flight of worn stairs, still ascending far beyond when I thought I would have reached the bottom. When the stairs finally did end, I took a few extra precious seconds to be sure I wasn't being watched or followed, aside from my brother. When I was satisfied, I stepped carefully through a low, stone corridor, keeping my footing quiet and avoiding the shallow puddles close to the walls. I traveled through a maze of stone for what seemed like hours before I heard it.

The scream rang through the air, seeming to make the very walls around me quiver in fright. My heart seemed to shatter beneath my ribs, my stomach tearing itself into pieces. My head swam and my ears pounded with the resonating shriek and I felt like I was going to throw up.

I resisted the urge to scream and run to her, instead sinking to my knees and praying for it all to stop. Before long, I found myself in dead silence once more. Forcing myself back to my feet, I started down the corridor again, clutching my gun so tightly, my knuckles were white.

Soon, the sound of labored breathing and soft whimpers reached my ears and I started to move more quickly toward it. When I could hear the soft crying as though it was in the next room, I pressed my back hard against the wall before peering around the corner.

In the next room, the ceiling was higher that the corridors, but the walls and floor were slick with slime and blood. A metal table was littered with empty scotch glasses and various horrifying instruments, coated in dried or sticky blood, the metallic smell flooding my nostrils. Crowley's black leather apron was draped over an empty chair with bloody shackles on the legs and arms. At the far end of the room, a bloody unrecognizable mass hung from a rusty meat hook.

When I was sure there was no one else there, I ran into the room, straight for the body, my gun clattering to the floor. A torn and bloodied Diana hung by her bound wrists, her feet dangling mere taunting inches from the floor. She cried quietly and I almost joined her.

"I'm here," I said softly. She gasped, her head snapping up, eyes flying open. "It's me," I whispered gently. "It's Sam. I'm going to take you home." She started to cry again. I reached gingerly behind her, untying her gag, then wrapped my arms around her waist, slipped my head through her arms, and lifted her from the hook. Though she only whimpered and moaned softly in pain at any contact I made with her body, she screamed bloody murder when her feet touched the floor. Quickly, I scooped her up to cradle her in my arms and she quieted herself down as quickly as possible.

"I've got you, baby," I whispered into her hair. "I've got you."

I heard a loud pounding as Kara and Dean barreled through the door way, guns at the ready, and I felt Diana tense when I held her tighter.

"Oh God," Kara gasped when she saw us.

"Crowley knows we're here," Dean barked, scooping up the gun I'd dropped to grab Diana. "We have to go. Now. Move it."

Kara charged down the hall first, with me and Diana following, Dean bringing up the rear. Diana tried not to protest to much as her broken toes brushed against the close walls and as she was jostled, being run up the endless flight of stairs.

Once we were outside, Kara shouted for me to get Diana back to the car when Crowley appeared before us.

"Ah, ah, ah," he smirked, motioning to Diana. "That's mine."

"Over my dead body," Kara snarled.

"Very well," he chuckled. "I'm flexible."

Kara shot several rounds through him, only making him chuckle and dramatically feign injury. As he was about to lunge for Kara, Dean quickly came up behind him and tackled him to the ground, wrestling a sack over his head.

"What the hell?" I shouted, convinced he'd lost his mind. Diana's bound hands trailed against the back of my neck, likely a weak attempt at asking me what the hell was going on.

"Run!" Kara ordered and, when I saw the Devil's Trap sewn into the sack, I almost laughed aloud before turning on my heel to race back to the car. But when I got there, Castiel was waiting for us.

"Give me the girl," he demanded, extending his hand toward us.

"I trusted you," I shouted, "you son of a bitch! You lied to us! We're supposed to be your friends, Cas!"

"You are my friends, Sam," Castiel agreed. "That's why I have to do this."

"No! Leave her alone!"

"Don't make me hurt you, Sam," Cas threatened.

Diana whimpered and then smacked one of her palms hard against the back of my neck. We both cried out, me in shock, her in pain, and a bright white light filled our vision. When I blinked and my vision slowly came back, Cas was gone and Dean and Kara were running up to us.

"What the...?" I looked down at Diana who was smirking weakly.

"She drew the friggen angel banishment symbol on your neck!" Dean laughed. "You sneaky little bitch!"

"That's my girl," Kara grinned, jumping up and planting a chaste kiss on her cheek. "You take her in the back," she told me. "Let's go before they start chasing us."

I carefully lowered myself into the backseat, Diana still in my arms. Kara and Dean jumped in the front, tearing out of the place, racing back home.

"Cas might catch up to us before we even get back," Dean grumbled, eyes locked on the open road in front of him.

"We can't worry about that right now," Kara said, turning to face me. "What's the damage?"

"Her toes and nose are broken, her shoulders are dislocated from hanging for so long. The bottom of her feet are covered in burns and cuts. And, from what I can see right now, she's lost a lot of blood from various flesh wounds."

"Can you do anything for her?" Kara asked, brow furrowed with worry. I nodded.

"I'm going to fix your shoulders, baby, all right?" I murmured to her softly. She nodded and I removed her arms from around my neck gently, then wrapped my hands firmly around her shoulders. "On the count of three, all right? One..." I yanked and snapped her shoulders back into place quickly. She screamed, then whimpered and a couple of tears slid down her cheeks.

"Jesus," Kara shuddered, then her face lit up. "Here!" She grabbed her bag from next to my feet and dug around in it, then pulled out a bottle of pills and tossed it at me. "For the pain. Give her four, at least."

I poured four little salmon colored pills into the palm of my hand and gently dropped them down Diana's throat. Before I could even look for water, she'd swallowed them.

"Do you have a rag in there?" I asked. "She's sweating bullets."

"You can use this," she said, handing me a bandana. I wrapped it around my fingers, then used it as a sponge to clean up some of her blood and dab at her forehead, beading with feverish sweat. She weakly reached up to grab my hand and I held it to my lips, covering her fingers with feathery kisses, then pressed her palm to my cheek.

"Don't worry," I whispered to her. "Everything's gonna be all right. I promise. I'm here. You're safe. I won't leave you. I promise."

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	25. Chapter 25: What He Never Said Aloud

**Sorry for the delay, just started a new job**

**Thanks for feedback :)**

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- Kara's POV -

"Sweetheart, you're fine," I sighed, watching as Diana squirmed in her dress. After she'd slept for practically two days straight, "the power," as Dean and Sam called it, reactivated to jumpstart her healing process. Her shoulders were perfectly functional, if a little sore, her nose, after I'd set it, was just bruised up, and her various gashes that were originally sewn closed by my unprofessional hand were now raw, but closed. Her feet hurt her the most, but she was slowly becoming able to spend more and more time moving about, not that the bruised toes and burned soles had really stopped her in the first place, just slowed her.

"I feel ridiculous," she groaned, putting her face in her hands, careful not to bump her nose.

"Why? It's comfortable, isn't it?"

"Well, yes but-"

"And you look beautiful."

"But-"

"But what?" I asked, taking her hand. "Diana, it's just a maxi dress, not a gown. You're going downstairs, not to the ball. Who are you trying to impress, really?" She cast her eyes down to her lap and I raised my eyebrows. "Oh... So, this is a legit thing, huh?" She chewed her lip and nodded. "I see... Well, if he's a good one, he'll think you're just as beautiful as I do."

"My nose is black and blue, I'm covered in raw, pink scars and I can barely walk," she sighed. "A floor length sundress only covers so much, Kara..."

"Oh, stop it," I ordered, pushing her arm lightly. "You're gorgeous. Always have been, always will be, no matter what. He's seen you in worse shape. Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"That thing you do when you're at your worst. When you're feeling self conscious and nervous and want to crawl under a rock. You convince yourself it's not worth it and you try to run and hide, but that's not you, Di! You're only feeling this way because you're tired from all that you've been through! Injuries that render you incapable of moving automatically send you into depression, but you will not let that stop you!" I jabbed my finger at her. "You are a fighter, Diana McKnight and you are not going to let some pink lines on your skin and little bruises on your nose stop you from going after that big hunk of a skyscraper, out there! You are smart and strong and gorgeous and you never give up! Now, get your pretty little ass out there and knock that boy's socks off!"

As soon as I'd started to raise my voice and flail my arms wildly, Diana smiled, and soon she was giggling. At the end of my speech, she threw her arms around me in a tight hug, which I returned, before helping her out of her room and to the library, where Dean and Sam were brainstorming other ideas to throw off the manhunt and maybe still transfer the power somehow.

- Diana's POV -

I held my hand up to stop Kara before she could clear her throat, removed myself from the support of her arms, and somehow managed to limp over to Sam, whose nose was buried so deeply into a book, you'd think he was suffocating. He was murmuring something softly to himself, lost completely in thought.

"You know, you might need glasses if you need to hold the book that close to your face to see the text," I smiled over his shoulder. He glanced up once, absentmindedly, then completely turned his head again. His face broke into that smile that makes my heart beat faster and I couldn't help but return the grin. "Hi."

"Hey," he finally said, setting his book down and standing to wrap his arms around me. "How are you feeling?"

"Eh, I've been worse," I smiled, squeezing him gently.

He released me and held me at arms length, still grinning widely. "You look great."

I felt my face flush involuntarily and I was actually thankful for my discolored nose, likely distracting from my reddening cheeks. "Thank you." He dropped his arms and I turned to meet Dean's embrace as he crossed to me.

"They were worried," he told me, shrugging when we parted, "but I knew you'd be fine."

"Oh yeah," I smirked, "I could tell you weren't concerned at all. The anxious pacing outside my room was just because you were restless and wanted to go on more cases."

"Exactly," he winked. With a quick glance at Kara, he excused himself, nudged my chin lightly with his fist, and disappeared into the next room with her. Placing my hands on the table behind me, I hoisted myself up so that I was perched on the edge, facing Sam.

"So, you're okay?" he asked again, his eyes raking over my arms, worrying at each little scab or bruise.

"I'm fine, Sam, really," I promised and he nodded. "Are _you_ okay?"

"Me? Yeah, why?" I raised my eyebrows at him. "What?"

"Don't lie to me, Sam, I can always tell," I said.

"Cannot."

"Your nostrils are flaring, you're licking your lips, and your jaw muscle is spazzing," I said, reaching up to touch his jaw lightly with a finger. He inhaled sharply at my touch and I retracted my hand, casting my eyes down. "Sorry."

"No," he sighed, taking my hand in his. "Actually, I want to talk to you about something."

I braced myself and looked up at him again. "Okay."

"You told me something when you thought you were dying, in that motel... And you told me that you meant it not long ago... In these past few months, I've watched you learn and grow and just keep running head first into a life that you didn't expect, didn't want, and didn't know how to deal with... And I've recently realized that everyone else has known something that I didn't know until a little while ago, and that you don't know at all... Even though you should've been the first to know, after I figured it out... So, I need to say it now..." He cast his eyes down to take a deep breath, then brought them up again to meet mine as he took both of my hands gently into his. "Diana, I've always thought you were beautiful, ever since we saw you at that bar... And, I related to you so easily and found you so warm and sweet to me and my brother, despite his initial sour attitude towards you, that I felt safe enough with you that I could open up and tell you things that I don't tell anyone, because I don't trust anyone and because I don't have anyone to trust with those things... And I never felt like you were judging me harshly when you looked at me, but rather that you were always waiting... Waiting to see what I'd do or say next so that you could find out who I am as a man, rather than a hunter or a freak... And no matter what happened, you always smiled at me in such a way that made me want to do or say something else, _anything_ else that would keep you smiling... You fell into my life at such the right time, for you to help me and for me to help you, that it's impossible for me to believe that it was an accident... That _we_ were an accident... But even if we were... I'm grateful for it... You are a light in the darkness of this repetitive and depressing life... You helped me remember why we do these exhausting, terrifying, thankless jobs... You helped me remember why we hunt... To save people... To make light, love, happiness, and hope possible for them... Just the way you make it possible for my brother and just the way you make it possible for me... You are the most incredible woman I've ever met, Diana... Your mere presence awes me, because you just seem to emanate light and warmth and love... I never stop thinking of you and hoping that I will be able to see your smile... To hear your voice... To touch your hair, look into your eyes, to hold you... And everyone else can see how much I ache for you... How much I want and need you... You make me want to be the good man that you see in me... And every time I think about that night that you told me that you would never stop fighting for me... I know that I would never stop fighting for you either... I know that it took me a little longer to tell you how I felt than you probably hoped it would... But I hope that when I tell you now, you will smile at me in that way you do that makes my heart beat faster and my face feel like it's going to tear because I can't seem to stop smiling back... Diana, I love you... More than you will ever know, I love you... And now that I've said it out loud, I don't think I'll ever be able to stop. I love you."

I felt my heart swell up into my throat and it was like I couldn't speak or breathe for agonizingly long seconds, but the pain was almost sweet. My entire face split into an enormous grin and I felt giddy and ridiculous and even a bit silly, but I just couldn't care in that moment. Everything was amazing and I was just so overwhelmed with joy.

"I love you too," I finally breathed and giggled as the relief visibly washed over Sam. Only once it relaxed did I realize that his entire body had tensed in anxious anticipation. We immediately reached for each other and he brought his lips down onto mine and I immediately melted in his arms, and I felt that falling feeling, but this time it was different. This time I wasn't falling to the roaring waters under the bridge and I wasn't falling through the center of the earth. I was falling, with Sam, safely locked in his arms, into sheer, warm, glowing bliss.

- Sam's POV -

So, maybe if we hadn't been totally out of our minds with relief, adrenaline, fatigue and, in her case, pain killers, we might have made it upstairs but, as it was, we were alone in the library for a while.

"We're in the library," I laughed, throwing my arm over my eyes. She giggled beside me.

"Hey, I have no regrets."

"Nah," I agreed, rolling over on top of her, grinning into her kisses. She stretched up to kiss my chin lightly and I hummed happily, dropping my head to her shoulder, my lips lingering on her skin, her delicious scent filling my nostrils like a toxic gas, making me dizzily happy.

"You're hungry, aren't you?" she giggled, running her fingers through my hair. I nodded against her and she laughed again. "All right, let's go."

"No, I'm all right," I sighed, kissing her neck lightly. She shivered beneath me.

"Not in two minutes, you won't be," she smiled, tugging my hair gently, lifting my lips away from her skin.

"But that's it two minutes," I insisted. She smiled and rolled me off her.

"Get dressed."

Within five giggly minutes that almost seemed normal, we were dressed and in the kitchen, Diana throwing ingredients into a bowl until I realized that it was pancake batter. We were laughing and throwing flour at each other and pretending that we were a normal couple when Kara came in with a grave expression.

"What?" Diana asked, her smile slowly fading. "Kara, what is it?"

"There's someone outside," she murmured, her voice shaking. "Dean needs you. Now."

I scooped Diana up to follow Kara out and I knew she was worried because she didn't protest at being carried when she could walk. When we got outside, I set her on the ground, but kept one arm around her waist, holding her tightly to my side. Dean looked up and pointed with his chin across the dusty dirt road to a gleaming white Cadillac. The ashen faced, thin man gracefully emerged from the car and crossed the road, slowly, the air cooling at his very presence. He pressed his fingertips together, gazing at us each in turn, before turning his eyes down to Diana again.

"We need to talk."

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	26. Chapter 26: The Alternative

**Sorry it's been so long... Having some trouble...**

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- Diana's POV -

I felt Sam's arm tighten around my waist as soon as he saw the car, then somehow hold me even closer to him when his dark, cold eyes fell to my face.

"We need to talk," came his slow, somewhat harsh voice. It was a cold and clipped tone that made me want to cower behind Sam like a small child.

"Diana," Dean said after a long, chilling silence, "this is Death."

"Hello," I finally managed. It must have sounded stupid, but I hadn't any idea what else to say. And there was something about this guy that put a halt on my fiery backlash. "Are you here to kill me, then?"

His head slowly, smoothly, tilted up so that he was looking down his nose at me and his pale, thin lips pursed slightly, perhaps in annoyance. "No, Diana, your death is not my objective. In fact, if there is anything I can do to preserve your life, I will do so without hesitation."

"Why?" I asked cautiously, leaning a bit more on Sam as my feet started to complain. He started to bend down to lift me, but I put my hand on his arm, stopping him.

"Because you are crucial to the maintenance of my balance," the thin man in the dark suit replied, blinking impassively down at me. "You are the only guardian of the power. No other could even hope to touch it, let alone contain it. The power must be confined."

"I can't control it," I told him, feeling my throat tighten with fear and frustration at the thought. "I can't. I wish I could, but I can't. I'm sorry. I can't help you."

"While I disagree with your use of the word can't, I understand your doubt, considering the consequences you have suffered," the man nodded, his head bobbing down and up smoothly and slowly, the way a person moves when they are confident in their power over those surrounding them. "However, I am willing to offer you an alternative to harboring the power in your soul where it may influence your mind."

"There's an alternative?" Sam hissed through clenched teeth. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"You asked me for help, not the other way around," Death replied, turning his cold eyes on Sam. "Simmer down, now. This isn't about you."

"What's the difference now?" Dean grumbled, shifting his weight as a nervous Kara picked her nails behind her back.

The cold eyes gradually shifted to Dean's scowl and the tight, pale lips pursed once more. "The difference now," he spoke icily, "is that you are not asking me for help, I am asking her for help."

"_Death_ is asking for help?" Kara glared, crossing her arms beneath her breasts. He glanced at her briefly, before turning his back on me.

"Perhaps we should discuss this elsewhere."

"No," Sam snapped. I squeezed his arm gently, then started toward the tall, thin man. "Diana," Sam's grip on my waist tightened further. "What are you doing?"

"You heard him, Sam," I replied as calmly as I could. "This isn't about you. It isn't about any of you. It's about me. I need to make this decision." I met his eyes soberly. "On my own."

"No." He pulled me back to him, dragging my sore bare feet across the gravel. "I'm not letting you go again. Ever."

"Sam, stop it," I begged, reaching out to hold his hand. "Don't do this now. Later, fine, but not right now."

"No, Diana, I'm not letting you go," I growled, scowl set firmly. I sighed, bowing my head in surrender, then raised my eyes to meet his.

"Fine, but I need you to promise me that you'll let me make my own choice," I said, then glancing back at Dean and Kara, I added, "you too. Promise me." After a moment's hesitation, they nodded reluctantly. I turned back to Sam who was staring down at me painfully.

"I am on a schedule," came the chilling voice from behind me, with an edge of annoyance. I turned to stare at him.

"I seem to recall that you are here to ask _my_ help," I challenged. He blinked at me, but said nothing.

I turned back to Sam and squeezed his hands gently. "Listen," I whispered, "I know that you're worried. And I thank you for that. But I need you to trust me. I meant it when I said I would fight for you. This is no exception." I lifted one hand and placed it gingerly against his cheek. "I will not leave you. I promise." After a long moment, Sam cast his eyes down and nodded, then held me close and kissed my hair before releasing me to bargain with Death.

"If I'm the only person who can guard this thing, how do you propose we move it?" I asked.

"It will always be near," he replied, raising a pale bony fist and allowing a silver circle on a delicate chain fall from his fingers. I watched the circle swing back and forth, gasping when I recognized the engraved initials.

"Where did you get that?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper, eyes locked on the locket, swinging back and forth from his long fingers.

"Haven't you ever wondered exactly how long this locket has been in your family, Diana?" he asked in a gentler tone. "It is not a coincidence that you feel a deep connection with this. It has been with you all the time. A mere house fire couldn't separate it from you for long."

As I gingerly reached out to touch the silver memory that was like a lovely, faded dream, he flicked his wrist and the necklace disappeared into his palm once more. I felt my heart sink a little.

"The gods could only fit that thing into a human soul," Dean growled, "and you want to shove it into a little locket?"

"Appearances can be deceiving, Dean," the thin man said, his eyes never leaving mine. "The solution is simple. I transfer the power to the locket and you wear it."

"What's the catch?" I asked suspiciously.

"The catch, as you put it, is that you may never remove or open the locket," he warned gravely. "To open the locket would allow the power back into your soul, if not into a weaker one. To remove the locket would cause excruciating pain and, ultimately, death."

"What? Why?" Kara demanded.

"Because the locket was woven and shaped using your aura and, just before transferring the power, would essentially be lined with a part of your soul. If you removed the locket, you would tear your soul," he explained slowly, calmly, his eyes never leaving mine. "Though, this way, you would have complete control over your own body and mind at all times. In addition, you will no longer be hunted, as the power will be dormant and no longer able to be traced."

I glanced up at Sam, whose jaw muscle was spazzing again. I held his hand a little tighter.

"Will it hurt?" he asked.

"Yes, very much so."

After a long few moments, Sam turned his gaze down on me. He took a deep breath and squeezed my hand gently. "It's your decision," he finally said. I returned the hand squeeze and offered him a small smile before turning to Death once more.

"All right," I nodded. "I'll do it."

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- Sam's POV -

We agreed to allow Death down into the base. Diana led us all to her room and finally opened the door to let him through. She was just about to disappear inside with him, when I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait." She turned back to glance nervously at me. "May I come?" I asked. "I'd like to be there for you." She smiled weakly up at me, took my hand, and we crossed the threshold together, closing the door behind us.

Death motioned to the bed and, after sitting at the head, I pulled Diana down to lie in front of me, her head on my lap.

"You'll likely want to grip or bite something," he told her, fishing the locket from his pocket again.

"In the past few days I have been stabbed, burned, whipped, skinned, and God knows what else," Diana sighed, merely reaching up to hold my hands. "I'll survive."

"Very well." Death's wiry frame perched on the edge of the bed. "Are you ready?"

Biting her lip and squeezing my hands, Diana nodded. Death clicked the locket open, placed it very gently on her stomach, then began to ease his hands into her abdomen, as though his hands were passing through her like a ghost's. As he pressed into her, a white light began to radiate from within Diana, and she began to whimper, then scream. As he dug his hands in farther, the light grew brighter, nearly blinding, and her cries grew louder. I squeezed my eyes shut, holding her in my lap, squeezing her hands in support as a few desperate tears escaped and slid down my cheeks.

_Hold on, baby. I've got you. Please, hold on. Don't leave me. Please. Please, hold on..._

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	27. Chapter 27: Bring Me To Life

**This is it...**

_**Carry on my wayward son, there'll be peace when you are done,**_

_**Lay your weary head to rest, don't you cry no more...**_

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- Diana's POV -

I remember the falling feeling washing over me stronger than ever before. Not only did I lose all sense of where I was, I hadn't a clue who I was. All I could think was that I was in the old cartoon movie _Alice In Wonderland_ that I used to watch, falling through the rabbit hole forever, passing various objects, people, and scenes that made no sense.

Then, I landed somewhere. But not gently on my feet like in a Disney movie. It was more like a tumbling to the ground like being tossed from one of those portkey things from Harry Potter. It was too bright and I couldn't see anything, and oppressively hot, so I groped around on my hands and knees, struggling to breathe in the hot, thick air until the light slowly faded and the air seemed to retreat from pressing in on my lungs.

When my eyes adjusted and I stood, I was in the backyard of my childhood home. The grass was long and dotted with white wishing dandelions. The swing that my dad made me out of a plank of wood and long rope, tied to a low tree branch, swayed in the warm breeze that carried the smell of an approaching summer storm.

The screen door on the back porch swung open as a little girl with long brown hair bounded down the steps, clutching a glass jam jar. She looked to be no more than six years old, but her eyes sparkled with a timeless quality that made you wonder whether she'd been here before.

"Momma!" she yelled over her shoulder. "Momma, come on! We're gonna miss it!"

"Coming, my love," sang a warm, honey voice as a woman with thick waves of auburn hair stepped onto the porch with a lovely smile. "Don't worry, baby, we won't miss the party."

"We'll be there even before them, if we leave now," chuckled a tall man with chocolate curls and twinkling blue eyes. He slipped his arm around his wife and bent to kiss her sweetly before smiling down at the little girl, who had crossed her arms stubbornly.

"I just can't wait to see the dancing lights!" she pouted, digging a small hole in the dirt with her toe.

"We won't miss them, darling Diana, I promise," the woman smiled. My heart broke and I felt tears well up as I stared at my beautiful mother, lost to me forever. Her smile was so carefree and the way she and my father looked at each other only made my heart ache for the warmth and comfort of their everlasting love more.

"Maybe, we should wait a little longer," my father suggested, leading my mother down to sit on the steps in front of me. "It will give the dancing lights more time to prepare for us."

"Okay," I watched myself sigh. I plopped down in the grass and began to pick the fuzzy dandelions around me.

"Are you going to make a wish, sweetheart?" my mother asked in that honey voice. I nodded, closed my eyes, and blew as hard as I could on the dandelion, scattering the fluffy seeds to the wind.

"Want to know what I wished for?" I asked them. They nodded. A satisfied smirk spread on my little face. "I can't tell you 'cause then it won't come true."

As tears blurred my vision, my little self and my adoring parents melted away and I let myself dissolve into sobs. I sank to my knees and cried because I missed being so innocent and confident and loved. I cried because I missed my parents and my home and calling fireflies dancing lights and dandelions wishing flowers. I cried because I missed listening to my father sing as he cooked breakfast and watching my mother brush her long, beautiful hair. I cried because it was my fault my parents were ripped away from this world, away from me. I cried because, despite spending many knights staring at the stars praying, despite making sure to scatter every wishing flower seed, and despite remaining consistent in my thoughts every time I blew out my birthday candles, my wish didn't come true.

Suddenly, as I sobbed on the ground, the grass parted and I went tumbling down the rabbit hole again, falling through fire, then ice, then a thousand knives, and feeling as though my skin was being ripped off again, inch by inch. I felt like my organs and muscles were screaming in protest as they were torn out. My blood felt like it had been boiled away, my bones frozen to be so brittle that they shattered.

The most awful part, though, was when I tried to scream. It was like I was trapped in a never ending torture nightmare. As soon as I opened my mouth to scream, my throat closed up and I felt like I'd been swallowing rusty nails. I couldn't scream and I couldn't cry, which only terrified me more.

But just as suddenly as I had fallen through the rabbit hole into agony, my eyes flew open and I was fine. Still scared stiff, but physically sound.

A circle of warmth pressed into my chest and when I raised my fingertips to it, I found the locket. Sam's face appeared above mine and he quickly took my face into his hands, asking again and again if I was all right. I finally managed to nod and he heaved a huge sigh of relief. I slowly sat up and pressed myself back into his chest as his large, warm arms wrapped around me. I placed my hand over his heart, taking comfort in the steady beating against my palm and slowly raised me eyes to the thin, pale man standing at the foot of the bed.

"The power is contained, your mind is free, and the trail leading the hunt directly to you has disappeared," he told me. "While you no longer attract bounty hunters, you are not invisible to them and they do know roughly where you are. My advice to you is to run and hide." He nodded once, then turned and started for the door. Just before he disappeared down the hall, he hesitated and glanced back. "Thought you might like to know: You two were very much intended to fall in love. Your destinies are furthermore heavily intertwined. Good luck." And then he was gone.

Outside, Kara and Dean were pacing anxiously, eyes trained on the floor in front of them, but without seeing it. When we came in, they looked up cautiously.

"100% me," I said with a small smile. Kara screamed and ran to throw her arms around me. I staggered back a bit, but welcomed the hug, taking comfort in her vise grip.

"Oh my dear!" she squealed. "I'm so glad you're all right!"

"I love you, Kara," I told her, giving her another squeeze before prying her arms off. Dean stared at me skeptically. "No more monster in here," I promised with a lighthearted shrug. He wrapped his arms around me too.

"There was never a monster, Diana," he whispered. "You're anything but."

"I love you too, Dean," I whispered back. He released me and looked up to Sam.

"We have to go," Sam said, taking my hand once again. "They have a rough idea of where we are. We need to get out. Fast."

"Not just get out," Kara chimed in. "We need to lay low, too. Now that no one can sense her, they're gonna be pissed or paranoid or both and that's gonna spell trouble. We need to go somewhere they'd never think to look and just lay low until they give up."

"That could take a hell of a long time," Dean sighed. "A lot of these bastards are practically immortal."

"We have to try, Dean," Sam said. "At least for a little while. Just to be safe."

Looking back and forth between all of us, Dean silently considered this, then finally sighed and nodded. "Grab only what you need."

We threw some basics into the car and were about to go back in to grab some food and water when a bright white light flashing across the sky caught our attention.

"What the hell was that?" Dean barked. We all whipped around the other way when we heard Kara scream.

A wild eyed Castiel stood over her, his hands slammed into her chest. Before she could react, he lunged for Dean, forcing his palm against his chest too.

"Castiel!" Sam screamed, jumping in front of me. "Get out of here!" He pulled a long, silver blade, the blade Castiel had used to stab me, from a holster at his hip and ran at the angel.

Castiel dove for him, just dodging the blade, crashing with Sam to the ground and smacking both palms against his chest. Sam cried out, dropping the blade, and then Castiel came at me.

"No!" I heard Sam scream from the ground, but all I could see was the wild, flashing eyes of Castiel before I tumbled to the ground beneath him. He gripped my ribs with both hands and I felt like lightning shot across the bones, but then, surprisingly, there was only a dull ache.

"Cas!" Dean growled, helping Kara to her feet. "What the hell!"

"I was protecting you!" Castiel shouted as Sam crawled over to me. His wild eyes fell down on us as he ran his fingers through his disheveled hair. "Sam, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I was wrong! I made a mistake! But now you're in trouble and I don't know what else to do to help you!"

"Did you just do the angel-hiding thing on our ribs again?" Dean groaned. "Aw, c'mon, Cas! Why! Why do you have to keep carving shit into our ribs!"

"They're coming!" Cas screamed.

"Who?" Sam demanded, jumping to his feet and pulling me up with him.

"All of them!" Castiel pointed to the sky and we all turned our faces up toward the sky. The flash of light had been caused by several bright white figures streaking back and forth across a sky blackened by the collective smoky energies of potentially hundreds or even thousands of demons, coming at us like the dark clouds of a thunderstorm.

We stood there, staring up, frozen in confusion, shock and fear and I almost screamed when I thought of the thunderstorms and fireflies that I'd loved so much in my childhood.

"They're furious because they're losing grip on you!" Castiel shouted over the thundering booms of angels meeting demons above our heads. "You have to run! Go! Now!"

We all ran for the car and as soon as I dove into the back seat, Dean glued his foot to the floor, taking the car at full speed, running from what we'd all hoped was the safety of a potential home, our fear fueled by monsters that resembled my favorite childhood memories.

There was a heavy silence as we all came to realize that if we couldn't run fast enough, the mere wrath of so many deadly creatures would surely kill us all. Sam squeezed my hand and I kissed his. Taking a deep breath and scooting to the edge of my seat, I addressed them all.

"You're my family," I told them. "And I love you all. And we know who we are and what we do. We know that it's right. We also know that we're stubborn as hell! And if we're going down, we're gonna go down together, dammit! Fighting the whole way!"

"I knew you belonged here," Dean laughed. He and Sam exchanged glances in the rearview mirror and soon he pushed a tape into the radio and spun the volume dial all the way up.

"This is becoming an awful habit," Sam smiled.

"What is?" I asked. He pointed towards the radio and I glanced at it, then Dean, then Sam, and back to the radio again. Soon, the strings of an acoustic started playing through the speakers and I grinned as Dean began to belt it out.

"It's all the same! Only the names will change! Every day, it seems we're wasting away! Another place, where the faces are so cold! I drive all night just go get back home!"

And soon, even Sam, who sings even worse than Dean, joined in just as loudly. "I'm a cowboy! On a steel horse I ride! And I'm wanted, dead or alive! Wanted, dead or alive!"

Kara and I burst into giggles before raising our voices with the boys and, even though we were running for our lives, I knew that, in that moment, I'd never be safer or happier anywhere else.

_Sometimes I sleep, sometimes it's not for days  
The people I meet always go their separate ways.  
Sometimes you tell the day by the bottle that you drink.  
Sometimes when you're alone, all you do is think,_

_I'm a cowboy. On a steel horse I ride,  
And I'm wanted, wanted, dead or alive.  
Wanted, dead or alive..._

* * *

**That's it for this one**

**I have a couple more ideas and, if you'll read it, maybe I'll do a sequel.**

**What did you guys think?**


	28. Sequel!

**Hello my lovely readers!**

**I'm so glad that you liked ****_Training A Huntress_****!**

**As per to request, I have started a sequel that I would love for you to check out!**

**It's just an idea so far, so if you like it, please tell me so I can write more and you can read more!**

**I've called this sequel****_ Hunters In_**** Suburbia**

**Here's the link: s/9551304/1/Hunters-in-Suburbia**

**You guys are the best! Thank you so much! :)**


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